


Aftermath

by Chance13



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Kidnapping, M/M, Non-Explicit Torture, side Dramione
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 16:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 37,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chance13/pseuds/Chance13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war isn't quite as over as everyone believed, having serious repercussions on Harry and Draco's new relationship. EWE. Slight AU - major character deaths reversed. 8th year fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ist September

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this is my very first FanFic, and for some mad reason I've started with multi-chap – don't ask, I don't know why. Basically the war has ended, and everyone's going back to Hogwarts for 8th (having one giant 7th year makes no sense- why would the teachers do that? It always bugs me). It's a bit non-cannon because a lot of the characters that died at the end of Deathly Hallows, are still alive – Fred, Dobby, Snape, Loin, Tonks, Hedwig etc. – the bad guys and Dumbledore are still gone though. I might not mention them, but they are there. Now I think I've wittered on enough, so on with the story.

HPDM Harry's POV HPDM

Harry rolled over in bed and stared at the bright orange Chudley cannon poster adorning the wall opposite him. Early morning light flooded in through the flimsy curtains covering the window behind him, spilling into the room. Ron's gentle snores continued as Harry blindly felt around for his glasses before locating his watch. 7.30. Well it could be worse- early enough that no one else in the Burrow would be up, but too late to bother trying to return to sleep. Stifling a groan Harry rolled out of bed and silently padded out of the room he had been sharing with Ron since the end of the war.

Harry manoeuvred out of the house, collecting a pair of shoes and a jacket whilst simultaneously navigating merchandise left around the place by Fred and George from _Weasley's Wizard Wheezes,_ avoiding the junk abandoned throughout the living room- apparently purposefully left there to trip him up- and not waking up the sleeping members of the household, including Errol, Pigwidgeon, Hedwig and the ghoul.

Eventually he reached the back door and entered the ram-shackle garden, complete with chicken hut, broom shed and multiple garden gnomes, despite the vigorous de-gnoming which he, Ron, the twins and Ginny had gone through two days previously. Harry let out a peaceful sigh and went to sit under the old apple tree, avoiding the shade in an attempt to get the sickly rays of morning sunshine warm him. Wrapping his jacket tightly around himself Harry decided it was hardly worth the effort as the light did little to chase away the chill hanging in the air. He closed his eyes and lent back into the bark of the tree, enjoying the peaceful silence one last time before their return to Hogwarts later that day. Back to the fame, the whispers, the stares. Back to people asking him if he really was The Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived Twice, the Saviour of the Wizarding World, the man who actually killed Voldermort. Back to endless classes and homework, and studying in the library. Back to his friends, back to Quidditch, but most importantly back Home. As this last thought passed through his head Harry smiled- it had been over a year since he had officially attended Hogwarts and he missed it.

Harry opened his eyes as he heard voices coming form inside, rousing him from his thoughts; people were awake. Stretching as he stood Harry returned to the kitchen and was greeted by the sight of Mrs. Weasley cooking breakfast for the family. Ginny was in the living room sitting across from Fred and George, chipping in on their conversation- whether or not they should create a new range of Canary Creams. At that moment Ron came down the stairs, with Percy close on his heels. After exchanging the customary morning greetings everyone sat around the table to eat breakfast. Five or so minutes later Mr. Weasley appeared sown the stairs complete with a detached plug and screwdriver in-hand, setting them down before joining them.

After the meal was over Mr. Weasley and Percy left for their work, disapparating after saying their goodbyes to Ron, Ginny and Harry, as they wouldn't be seeing them until Christmas. Fred and George also stood, hugging their family before flooing to their joke shop in Diagon Alley. Mere seconds later Hermione appeared in the front garden, her Hogwarts trunk next to her. She hugged Harry and Ginny and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek. Leaving her trunk next to the front door they all wandered upstairs gathering in Ron and Harry's room so the four of them could catch up on the last couple of weeks.

Harry was careful not to sit next to Ginny; despite the end of the war more than two months ago, and almost everything else in his life returning to normal- well as normal as life could ever be for him- for some reason the two of them hadn't got back together. Harry couldn't understand it, he really couldn't; Ginny was great, she was funny, she was pretty, she was easy to talk and they were on the same wave-length about most things, but something just wasn't Right anymore. The light, the spark between them had gone, dimmed into non-existence, with no explanation for it's absence.

Harry saw Hermione and Ron share a side-ways glance as they noticed him sit at the opposite and of the bed from Ginny, but said nothing. Instead Ron, with surprising tact, started asking Hermione about her parents. After the war had ended Hermione had gone to Australia, refusing all help offered by the two boys, to track down her parents personas. She had successfully removed the memory charm she had placed on them before the Horcrux Hunt. They had returned to their old home in England and her parents had been re-instated at their old jobs. While they were unpleased, to say the least, that their only daughter had removed all their memories of her, they did understand that it had been necessary to keep everyone alive and safe, and were just glad to have her back.

This line of conversation continued for a while, branching off into various other topics such as who they thought would win the big Quidditch match next week, what '8th year', as it was being dubbed, would be like, and who out of their year mates would return- who would be in prison, who would stay in hiding and so on. His went on for an hour until Mrs. Weasley shouted upstairs that they would be leaving in half an hour. At this the two boys jumped and started scrabbling around the room collecting odds and ends they had yet to pack, while Ginny and Hermione both sat on Ron's bed leaning against the wall looking smug.

At 10.30 the three Weasleys, Harry and Hermione were gathered outside the Burrow preparing to apparate to a small alleyway a few minutes walk from Kings Cross Station. The four teenagers each had a trunk, and there own pet- Harry and Ron had Hedwig and pigwidgeon and Ginny had her pygmypuff sitting on her shoulder. Ginny took hold of her mother's hand- though she was now 17 and old enough to have a licence she obviously hadn't been able to learn to apparate the previous year- and the group disappeared with a loud crack.

Five minutes later they were standing on Platform 9¾ in front of the bright red Hogwarts Express, surrounded by crowds of people, pets and luggage. As they looked around for someone they recognised, Ginny spoted Luna's ash-blonde hair, and Neville standing next to her. The two groups met and while Neville's grandmother, Mr. Lovegood and Mrs. Weasley make easy small talk the friends discuss how their 'Summers' have been.

HPDM Draco's POV HPDM

Draco Malfoy stood silently in the group of chattering people. He held his ground, successfully attempting not to be washed away by the tide of people. He continued on through the people looking for someone, anyone, who would willingly talk to him now, after the war. He found no one. No one to talk to. He hadn't been expecting to find anyone; after the war was over his family had been left in disgrace- his Father sent to Azkaban, his Mother under house arrest. By some miracle he had escaped punishment; at his trial Potter of all people had spoken up for him, saying how he had had no choice in becoming a Death Eater, how he if he had had the choice would have let Dumbledore live, how he hadn't identified Harry or the rest of the Golden Trio when they had been brought to his house by Snatchers. It was Potter's word that had swayed the Jury, and without it he would most definitely be in Azkaban along with the rest of them. So now he owed the man again; he had saved his life a total of three times- once from the Fiend Fire, second from a Death Eater, and third from Prison – and he knew there was no way he could possibly pay him back, but he was sure as hell going to try.

Skirting round groups of people Draco made his way towards the train finding an empty compartment to sit in. Leaning back into his seat he stared out at all the happy people outside saying their goodbyes, surrounded by friends and family. Everyone started moving towards the train as the whistle blew, and Draco settled back, preparing himself for a long, lonely journey, with only his own thoughts for company; no one would want to sit with a former Death Eater. Continuing to occupy himself with the view out of the window he saw Potter a group of Gryffindors rush towards the train, too caught up in their conversation to hear the whistle go. As he peered closer he picked out the faces; Potter, the two Weasels, the Granger girl, Loony Lovegood and Longbottom, all heading onto the opposite end of the train. Draco smirked- good luck finding an empty compartment now. On second thought anyone would more than willingly make space for the Boy Wonder and his friends. The train left the station with a swift jolt and Draco continued to stare, this time un-seeing, out of the window, lost in his thoughts.

HPDM Harry's POV HPDM

The six friends had gotten so lost in their conversation that they had failed to hear the whistle, and only noticed that the platform was almost completely deserted when Luna glanced up to shout a final goodbye to her father. They ran to the train- well as much as you can run whilst carrying a trunk with a year's worth of belongings in it- and Neville got onto the train and shut the door seconds before the train departed.

Dragging their luggage behind them the five wandered down the aisle looking for a compartment. Almost every group they saw offered to make space for them, but they declined, not wanting to intrude or be stared at for the whole journey. Eventually they reached a seemingly empty compartment after walking what felt like the entire length of the train. Harry poked his head in and noticed that it wasn't, as he had first suspected, empty. Sitting alone in the corner next to the window was Draco Malfoy. Harry stared; the man had changed so much since he last saw him. Gone was the arrogance and the almost un-ending confidence had been reduced to a mere shadow. His hair, while still gelled back in it's usual stiffness, had grown and Harry could see without the gel would have gone passed the man's chin. His skin had gotten even paler, verging on sallow and there were bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. His silver-grey eyes looked out at him, full of loss and loneliness, mixed with a hint of surprise, and possibly, just for a second, hope. His posture and clothes however were as impeccable as usual and he appeared to have retained his aristocratic airs, despite his family's fall from grace. As he watched Malfoy's eyes widened slightly, before returning to their previous dead gaze, so different from his usual look of distaste.

"Do you mind if we sit?" he asked his former rival, indicating the empty seats. Malfoy gave a stiff nod, allowing them entrance, and returned to gazing out the window. The group entered, stowing their luggage in the over-head shelving. Harry watched Malfoy as he eyed the rest of the group entering, rolling his eyes almost imperceptibly as he saw who they were. Harry attempted to ignore him and sat, turning to talk to his friends, glancing back at the man, now a shadow of his former self, sitting opposite him.

HPDM Draco's POV HPDM

Approaching voices lifted Draco out of his thoughts, and he glanced around, looking for the source, until he noticed they were coming from the aisle outside. He was about to return to his musings when the compartment door opened, and a head peaked in.

Draco's breath caught in his throat, and his eyes widened slightly as he saw whose head it was. Harry Potter. Draco stared at the person in front of him. He had become more tanned since he last set eyes on him. His hair was as unruly as ever; striking out in every conceivable direction, covering his scar, and behind his glasses his emerald green eyes sparkled at him. Ever since Potter had saved him in the Room of Requirements he hadn't been able to get him out of his head, going over his every word, every movement, every meaning behind them, until he knew them off by heart. During the trials he hadn't been able to say a single word to the man, offering him only a small smile and a nod as thanks when he had been set free. He quickly controlled his features as Potter asked to sit down. Draco was shocked. Why would Harry Potter, of all people, want to sit with Him, an ex-Death Eater? There really must have been literally no seats left, as he had suspected. Draco nodded, unable to do more in his current state.

He went back to looking out the window, but watched the group out of the corner of his eye, unaware of Potter's gaze on him, and rolled his eyes as he saw who it was; the same four as on the platform. This was going to be a fun journey. He continued to watch curiously as they took their seats. Harry, for some reason, sat opposite him, next to the Weasel and Granger girl, who were obviously still together. The Weaselette sat opposite Granger next to Lovegood, who was holding hands with Longbottom, who ended up next to him, unfortunately. Well that pairing's new. Potter and the Weaselette were sitting as far away from each other as physically possible. Interesting- trouble in paradise perhaps?

His observations went unnoticed by everyone, including Harry who appeared to have returned to his conversation.

HPDM Harry's POV HPDM

Harry attempted to follow the conversation; occasionally following it for long enough to give his input, but his thoughts kept wandering back to the blonde in front of him. It was getting ridiculous, it really was. Ever since the trial when he had defended Draco- no Malfoy, his name is Malfoy- and the man had given him a genuine smile, lighting up his face, just slightly, he hadn't been able to stop himself from thinking about him for more than 10 minutes. It was getting infuriating, and he didn't even understand why he kept doing. It was Malfoy, for crying out loud, who he fought with ever since first, Malfoy who had insulted him and his friends on an almost daily basis, Malfoy who had been a Death Eater and at one point had tried to kill him. But he kept remembering his smile, and other things like how he would look, all calm and peaceful when there weren't any other Slytherins around, and how he hadn't turned him over to Lestrange. And, yes he was staring at him again. Harry tore his eyes away, forcing himself to listen to the conversation in front of him, hoping no one had noticed. In doing so he missed the smirk cross Malfoy's face as he continued to eye the countryside outside the window.

This was going to be a long journey.


	2. Night Time Wanderings

HPDM Harry's POV HPDM

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmede station and all the students began pilling out onto the platform. In a compartment near the end of the train Harry, his friends and Malfoy stood, stretching after the long journey. Malfoy was the first to exit, almost running, as if it hurt him to be in the room any longer than necessary, knocking into Ron in his haste. Harry gave a curious look to the quickly disappearing figure, as the redhead muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'ducking glass-mole'.

The group left the train and headed towards the carriages with the rest of the school, towards the Thestrals, which were now visible to almost everyone. As they got into a carriage they sat in the same order as in the train; Harry, Ron and Hermione on one side, Neville, Luna and Ginny on the other. They sat in silence for a few seconds, momentarily unable to think of anything else to talk about after the long journey, until Hermione spoke up, voicing Harry's own thoughts,

"Is it just me, or was Malfoy acting strangely on the train?" Ron snorted "He was still seems like an arrogant git, if that's what you mean. Acting too good to talk to us." Harry's brow furrowed slightly; that's not what he had seemed like to him at all. Sure he hadn't said a single word for the whole journey- not a single insult, which  _was_ strange for Malfoy –but it had seemed it was more because he was nervous, or maybe even shy, and unsure of what to say in the unusual situation. And it wasn't like they had made any openings in their conversation for him, talking about people and events that he didn't have a clue about, without a second thought. Harry felt a small pang of guilt; they had come in, taken over his compartment, and then gone on to completely ignore him, without a single spare thought to why he sitting alone, or where all the other Slytherins – Goyle, Parkinson and Zabini – were. Ginny's voice dragged him away form his thoughts and he looked up in surprise; they had hardly talked to each other directly in over two months, "Harry? Harry, what do you think? Was he acting a bit off?" Harry shrugged "I don't know" he sighed, completely failing to voice his own thoughts "We haven't  _really_  seen him since before the war, he's bound to have changed. I mean one of his friends did die in it, so..." He trailed off, no one noticing, as they had gotten lost in their thoughts, having forgotten about Crabbe and the Fiend Fire.

The awkward silence ended as the carriages pulled up to the school and everyone got out, heading to the Great Hall, taking there seats at the long house tables, and greeting there old friends as they sat down, preparing to watch the sorting.

HPDM Draco's POV HPDM

The train eventually pulled to a stop, just outside of Hogsmede. Draco immediately leapt to his feet rushing out of the compartment, into the aisle. His shoulder hurt for a second as he left, but he was too distracted to work out why. A long train in that close proximity to Potter had not gone well for him. He hadn't been able to say a single word the whole journey; not just because he didn't have a clue what to talk about, but because he was too nervous. It was ridiculous, him, Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Ice Prince, nervous just because he happened to be sitting near Harry bloody Potter.

Shaking his head in a vain attempt to remove the annoying thoughts Draco got off the train, quickly scanning the crowd for friends, just as he had done in Kings Cross. However unlike last time he actually managed to spot some fellow Slytherins, and began to make his way to wards them through the bustle of people. Eventually he reached the small group, standing slightly closer together than normal, against the flow of people, waiting for him to approach. He greeted his old friends with a small smile and a nod, which they returned before turning to the carriages, no one speaking- they had no chance of being heard over the noise of the other students. The five of them settled into their carriage, Draco sitting next to Blaise and Pansy, Greg next to Millie, holding her hand- the couple had got together after the end of the war and had been going strong for the past few months. He was glad for them; Draco knew for a fact that Greg had had a crush on her for the last 6 or so months.

The journey passed quickly, full of idle chit-chat about what had happened in the last few months, expertly navigating around anything to do with the war, parents or old friends who for one reason or another weren't returning to Hogwarts with them. Soon they reached the castle and the five jumped down, heading for the Great Hall, new year speeches, and most importantly, at least in Greg's opinion, the feast.

HPDM Harry's POV HPDM

Harry stared around the Great Hall, avoiding the looks of the other students, taking stock. The four house tables were almost completely full, apart from the spaces left for the new first years waiting to be sorted. All the seats at the head table were also taken, Snape setting anew record for the first  _Defence Against the Dark Arts_  teacher to make a comeback in years, Professor Slughorn also breaking his promise and continuing on as Potions Master. All of the walls had been re-built in the hall, though Harry had seen from outside not everywhere else, but the enchanted ceiling was slightly patchy, one area showing plain stone ceiling and another a bright blue cloudless sky, despite it being pitch black outside.

Eventually the group of small, worried children standing in the middle of the hall had disappeared and Professor McGonagall stood at the head Teacher's podium, and began her welcome speech. "To our new students; welcome, to our old ones; welcome back." Her speech continued as normal, reminding the students that they were banned from the Forbidden Forest and that all merchandise from  _Weasley's Wizard Wheezes_  would be confiscated. The only new addition was that some parts of the school were off-limits, the building still being under repair from the battle. On this note she finished speaking and returned to the teacher's table, food appearing on the platters in front of them as she did so.

Everyone began pilling the food onto there plates, and the large hall was soon filled with chatter and laughter. Harry drew his eyes away from the podium doing the same and soon he was absent-mindedly chatting with the rest of his year mates. As well as the Golden Trio there was also Dean and Seamus, who were talking Quidditch with Ron, and Parvati and Lavender were making a vain attempt to talk Hermione into doing something more interesting with her hair, until Ron leaned over saving her by saying he thought she looked great no matter what she did, causing his girlfriend to smile down at her plate blushing, and the other girls to shut up instantly.

Harry smiled, glancing around at the others, gauging their reactions to this statement, until his eyes landed on Malfoy across the hall, his hair slipping from it's neat gelled style, a few strands falling into his face. He stared at him for a few seconds, completely frozen, before realizing he was staring at Malfoy. Harry looked away quickly, shacking his head in an attempt to get the image of Malfoy laughing with his friends out of his, and returned to his friends' conversation, hoping no one noticed his sudden lack of concentration. This meant however that he completely missed Hermione's confused look as she noticed who he was staring at.

HPDM Draco's POV HPDM

Eventually the food disappeared off the plates, and the feast ended. Draco and his friends got up as the rest of the occupants of the hall rose from their seats. The prefects began rounding up the first-years, leading them to the four different common rooms. All the older students also began to leave, branching off in different various directions as they chose what they thought would be the quickest way there. Draco looked around the hall one last time, before he left, taking in the new faces, until his eyes landed on Potter. Their eyes locked for a second and his breath caught in his throat. They stared at each other for a few seconds, unblinking. Then the flow of people continued and someone stepped between them, breaking their eye contact and the moment.

Draco turned and hurried after his friends who had continued on a bit, not noticing his lack of presence. What the hell was he doing, staring at  _Potter_? I mean ok, his eyes shone like bright emeralds, and that whole pulled-through-a-hedge-backwards look he had going on with his hair- which would normally be extremely annoying -managed to look sort of cute on him. Wait a second did he just think the word  _cute_  in association with  _Potter_? 'I must be loosing' he thought, and gave his head a sharp shake to get rid of the disturbing thoughts, just as he caught up to Pansy, who flashed him a bright smile.

Draco rolled over, staring at the top of his four-poster bed and sighed. He had tried everything to fall asleep; counting flober worms, going over History of Magic notes from memory, counting backwards from 100, nothing was working. There were just too many thoughts swirling around his head- his father in prison, his mother under house arrest, Crabbe dead and the hundred and one other things that were wrong with his life, his new apparent obsession with Potter slowly climbing to the top of the list as memories of him danced through his mind, taunting him.

He groaned and rolled out of bed- sleep would obviously not be coming any time soon. He found his shoes and cloak and, shoving his wand in his pocket, wandered out of the dormitory, out of the common room, and into the empty, silent hallways of Hogwarts. Casting a quick  _Tempus_ \- 1.30 –he set off to wander the corridors, hoping walking would clear his mind. He doubted it would help solve any of his problems, but it was worth a shot.

HPDM Harry's POV HPDM

Harry walked the hallways of Hogwarts, revelling in the peaceful quietness of his home after a summer at the Burrow. He walked silently under his invisibility cloak, not bothering to use the Marauder's Map; who would be out around roughly half one at night? Even the ghosts weren't up. He looked around at all the paintings, watching their normally active inhabitants doze in chairs or, in most cases, leaning against the edge of their frame. Their quiet snores covered the sound of muffled footsteps approaching from the opposite direction until it was too late.

Harry fell to the ground as the person who had walked into him fell onto his chest, his cloak sliding off as he did so. He slipped his glasses back up his nose so as to see who was lying on top of him. He was greeted by the site of a pale face, dark shadows lying under their tired eyes, a shock of bright blonde hair falling in is face. Harry quickly remembered himself.

"Malfoy? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask you exactly the same thing." He sneered back, jumping to his feet before brushing down his pyjamas, as if he often spent time lying on the ground in deserted corridors.

"Well I was going for a walk, though I don't see why you'd care." Was the best reply he could think of.

Malfoy paused, "I never said I did, did I?" came the half-hearted reply, an attempt at a smirk crossing his face. "You know what Potter? I honestly too tired to argue right now." He stated sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.

"I know exactly what you mean" Harry replied, sitting down as he stifled a yawn- why on earth had he stayed out so long? He was going to be completely knackered tomorrow. Malfoy gave him an odd look. "What?" he asked, puzzled.

"You just sat next to me." Was the confused answer.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Harry said sarcastically, "It's a free country, I can sit where I like. What are you doing out here any way? You never answered my question."

Malfoy's face froze, changing back to his ice mask. "Nothing."

"But then-" Malfoy cut him off, "I was just thinking, alright? Like you said, it's not really any of your business." Deciding to quit while he was ahead Harry searched around for a new topic, attempting to keep the conversation as insult-free as possible.

"So" he cast around desperately, his mind suddenly blank "looking forward to the new Quidditch season?"

"Really, that's what you're going with Potter?"

"I don't see you coming up with any other ideas. And I thought you were too tired to fight?"

"Touché. Excited I guess, another chance at the cup"

"More like another chance for us to beat you. Again" Harry smiled smugly at Malfoy. A look of annoyance sped across his face, being replaced immediately by the look of exhaustion he had been wearing for the whole conversation.

"I'm not going to rise" he stated, "I said I don't want to fight you". He laid his against the wall, his eyelids drooping. Harry stared at the man next to him. He looked completely peaceful, at ease. He had never seen a look like that on Dr-  _Malfoy's_  face before. It suited him, Harry decided, as he watched a yet anther strand of hair flopped into his face. He itched to reach his hand out and brush the hair out of his face, but stopped himself just in time. "You really weren't kidding when you said you were tired, were you?" Dr- Mal- oh screw this, Draco shook his head mutely, his eyes remaining shut. Harry clambered to his feet, grasping the blonde's hand as he did so, ignoring the small tingling feeling in his hand. "Come on" he said, pulling him to his feet "you need to sleep. So do I for that matter. Classes tomorrow and all that" he cast a quick tempus, checking the time, as he led Draco towards the Slytherin common room. "Shit" he muttered, causing the other half of the pair to look at him. "It's almost half two" he explained, just as they reached the common room entrance. "How did you know where- actually never, mind I don't care. You know it was kind of nice talking to you Potter" he admitted. "Yeah it was. Maybe we should do this again sometime. Except not so late."

"Yeah, maybe" the reply was half hearted, but the light in Draco's eyes betrayed him. "Night Potter"

"Night Dr- Malfoy" calling him Draco in his head was one thing, saying it out loud was a completely different matter. Harry walked slowly back to his dormitory, mulling over their chat, still shocked that they had managed to have a conversation that not only didn't include insults, but that they actually enjoyed. It was food for thought, that's what it was.

When the two boys finally got to their beds they were both able to fall into deep, dreamless sleeps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The 'ducking glass mole' thing is from the TMI series. I think Jace said it. Or Simon. Really I don't even remember which book it's from, it just popped into my head and I thought it sounded like something Ron would say.


	3. Partners

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco cracked his eyes open, running a long-fingered hand through his bright blonde hair. Beams of magical sunlight streamed through the fake windows in the dormitory. He shut his eyes again, frowning slightly in the rays, before summoning up his strength and getting out of bed. His feet hit the freezing flagstones covering the room and he hissed slightly, searching for his shoes. He got up and trudged out of the room, heading for the showers.

He returned twenty minutes later to the sounds of his housemates waking up; bags being packed, clothes being pulled about and people chatting. He walked in, sweeping his damp hair out of his eyes with one hand and surveyed the room. Vince was lying on his bed, a pillow clamped firmly over his head, Theo was already dressed, sitting crossed legged on his, his bag packed next to him, while Blaise, also dressed, was hunting for his school books which were currently scattered around the room.

"Really Zabini, shouldn't you be a bit more organised than that? You are meant to be Head Boy after all, or was that just another joke?" Draco smirked at the dark-haired boy, the look intensifying as he noticed Theo rolling his eyes. "Nah, I was deadly serious about that  _Malfoy_ ," he replied, returning the smirk. Draco could have sworn he heard the small boy mutter 'For once' under his breath, but as he glanced round Theo's gaze was fixed firmly on his book. Blaise opened his mouth to continue, but was cut off as Vince rolled out of his bed, hitting the stone with a loud  _thump_.

Draco was the first to speak "You know Vince, when you get out of be using your legs can sometimes be helpful," he said, trying to cover up his laughter with a sneer. This was proven completely pointless as, as he said this Blaise doubled over in silent laughter, causing Theo to also start. Momentarily giving up on his emotionless-ice-prince mask that he normally wore Draco joined in the laughter, as Vince stood up, grinning sheepishly, pulling out clothes from his trunk to cover his embarrassment.

Eventually the four boys were all ready, and headed down to the common room, school bags in tow, meeting up with Pansy and Mille, who took Vince's hand. The group of friends left the common room heading for the Great Hall, entering a few seconds after Potter and the rest of his gang. The two boys exchanged brief nods, the Gryffindor actually offering up a small smile. The two groups went their separate ways, to opposite sides of the hall, as they had done every day for their first six years at the school. This time however when they sat Draco and Potter faced each other, glancing across the room every so often, hurriedly looking away each time they were caught.

The head's of houses walked up and the long tables handing out individual timetables to each pupil. Draco took his, his days for the year broken up into little boxes, each containing one of his five subjects for the year; Potions, Arithmancy, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology.

He looked up from his timetable after checking his first three subjects of the day as people began exiting the hall. Everyone else finished eating and they followed the growing crowd out the hall. Standing just outside the door the six of them compared timetables; Draco and Blaise were both heading for Potions first, Vince and Pansy to Charms, Theo to Ancient Runes and Millie to Divination. The all said their goodbyes and headed to their separate classes.

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry dragged his feet down the corridor, Ron trudging along next to him, both of them cursing whoever had decided to put Potions first thing on a Monday morning- it was inhumane. The only upside the two boys could see was that at least Snape didn't teach it any more. The two boys reached the classroom, Hermione having left to go to Ancient Runes, and found two seats near the back.

The classroom was pretty similar to the years before, but now that Slughorn was in charge of it, it somehow seemed lighter and had an almost cheery atmosphere, despite the oppressing stonewalls and floors. Roughly half the class was already there, and other students filled in, in dribs and drabs, as it got closer to the start of the lesson. People from all four houses were in the class, including Ernie MacMillan, Malfoy and Zabini. The lesson dragged on, Ron and Harry painstakingly making their way through their Dizziness Draught for the next hour. Eventually the lesson finished and Harry stoppered a sample of their potion into a glass vial, leaving it on Slughorn's desk, before he and Ron left to meet Hermione, during their short break before their next to classes.

The three sat in the shade of a big oak tree next to the lake, watching the giant squid flick it's tentacles through the water, splashing unsuspecting first years that had strayed too close to the spray. Harry shut his eyes, lying down on the grass, enjoying the warmth and fresh air after an hour trapped in the dungeons. He let the sound of his two best friends chattering wash over him, as he relaxed, finally feeling at home for the first time in a long while.

Eventually their break ended and the three Gryffindors headed back towards the castle. As they reached the entrance they passed Malfoy and his cronies. Ron immediately began staring daggers at the Slytherin and Hermione nudged him in the ribs, encouraging to keep walking. The six teenagers glared back, and Malfoy's gaze flicked over Harry briefly in confusion; the brunette hadn't even acknowledged their presence. Harry had long ago decided that after everything that had happened in the last few months, all the people lost, all the fighting, that it was ridiculous to continue their stupid childish feud. That in no way meant he liked the blonde he thought, shoving thoughts of the previous night out of his mind, and walked past looking as though he didn't exist. Out of the corner of his eye however he saw Draco giving the trio the once-over, and did the same to him. His hair was yet again flicking into his face, almost hiding his bright silver eyes. He was just as pale as when on the train, though he looked a lot less tired. He was also less thin; before, at the trials, he had been as thin as to be sickly and the smaller boy's clothes had drooped off his frame. Now though he was looking healthier- less stress? Harry wondered- but his shirt still seemed slightly too big for him, and his trousers almost hanging off his slender hips. Despite this his clothing was as impeccable as ever; shoes shined, shirt tucked in and tie down up to the top button, a complete contrast to Harry himself who appeared as though he had slept in his clothes. His shirt was half un-tucked, his tie hanging far below his top button, which was undone, one corner of his collar sticking up.

This analysis took a few seconds and soon the group were in the entrance hall and checking their timetables for their next class. The three split up, Ron to Care of Magical Creatures and Hermione to Arithmancy, and Harry back to the common room for a free hour, all agreeing to meet up for third period in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

After his Arithmancy lesson Draco set off to DADA alone; none of his friends had taken it this year. He reached the classroom door a few minutes before the bell, on time as always. As he entered the classroom he looked around- the class was about half full with five people sitting at random desks, chatting with their friends. He instantly felt like an outsider. Everyone else had at least one other friend to talk to. Theo, Blaise and Millie had all past their OWL for DADA, but none of them could be bothered to put in the extra effort needed for the next level. Well, except for Theo, but apparently he had more important subjects. He walked across the classroom, around the groups of people, sitting by himself off to the side, hoping some idiot Hufflepuff wouldn't end up sitting next to him.

After a few minutes later Professor Snape walked into the room and the now-full class fell silent. Despite the fact that he now taught Defence instead of Potions, and so taught in a light, fresh classroom, the room still seemed more dismal than when it had been the home of their six previous teachers. Snape strode to the front of the room, robes billowing around as he spun to face them. His steely glare travelled across the room as he began to speak.

"For the next two weeks each of you will be working on a randomly assigned project. In an attempt to improve inter-house relations Headmistress McGonagall has asked me to not allow partners in the same house, so I shall be assigning the pairs."

As he finished the class stared at him in silence with mixed reactions. The Ravenclaws were looking at him eagerly, awaiting their assignments. The Hufflepuffs were hoping that they would end up with someone who if not their friend they could at least get along with. Both the Gryffindors and Slytherins were wishing and praying to any gods who happened to be listening in on their lesson that they didn't end up trapped together. Snape began reading out the pairs, and the students gathered their belongings, some walking quickly to their other half as they got an already friend, some shuffling as they got stuck with a complete stranger.

Draco zoned out as Snape read out the list, confident that whoever his partner was, they would come to him, and so he need not pay attention. He spun his quill absent-mindedly in his long pianist's fingers watching the light play on Potter's hair, who was sitting diagonally in front of him. He heard his name being called and jerked back to reality, silently scolding himself for his lack in concentration. If some idiot had noticed they would think he a crush on the raven-haired boy, or something equally ridiculous as that. While he accepted months ago that he was gay- he had even gone as far as telling his friends- having a crush on Potter of all people was completely infeasible.

He continued spinning his quill through his fingers as he waited for his partner to appear. He saw a pile of books landing rather forcefully on the desk next to him, and someone sitting down next to him. He looked up from his quill straight into a pair of startlingly green eyes that seemed suspiciously familiar. Realisation hit him like a tonne of bricks. Potter. He had to spend two weeks, a whole two weeks, being partners with him.  _Well it could be worse_  said a small traitorous voice in the back of his mind  _at least he's actually good at Defence, and think of all the extra time you'll get to spend with him…_

Potter nodded to him "Malfoy". Draco returned the greeting, and continued to watch him with what he hoped to be dis-interest. " So we're partners" began the other boy, searching desperately for a subject that wouldn't begin an argument, which Draco appreciated. Despite only being half-conscious from lack of sleep the previous night he had enjoyed talking to Potter, and it had been nice to be able to just talk, without everyone else around expecting them to go for each others throats. Pushing decidedly non-violent thoughts about what he could do to his throat, he tried to go along with the none-arguing idea. "Yeah, I noticed. So…" he trailed off, unable to think of a topic to speak about. Potter looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish "What do you think the assignment will be?" he finished lamely, trying to not cringe at the stupidity of the question- obviously he wouldn't know what it is, and they were about to be told in a few seconds, so there was barley any point speculating on the matter. "I don't know" he replied, not surprising anyone, " I hope it's not non-verbal spells though, I was kind of rubbish at them last year."

As they had been speaking Snape had been handing out their assignments. Just as Potter finished speaking Snape reached their desk. "Defensive non-verbal spells. I want an essay on both their benefits and the negatives of using them. I also want proof that you can do at least ten of these by the end of the two weeks." With that he stalked back to the front of the classroom to begin writing each pairs assignment on the board in more detail.

"Crap" muttered Potter. Draco smirked "Well it could be worse," he stated. "How? How could this possibly be worse?"

"Well," began Draco, his smirk growing, "you could have been paired with some idiot Hufflepuff, instead of me." At this Potter joined him in his smile, and the pair began copying down their homework.

 


	4. The Admission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after last weeks chapter I've talked to Draco and Harry, and they are now agreeing to go along with my plot instead of doing their own thing, so hopefully this chapter will be better. I also made this one extra long to make up for it. I've got a beta reader as well now- BickyMonster, so all in all it should be better

HPDM Harry's POV HPDM

Harry was sitting on one of the comfy red sofas next to the fire in the Gryffindor, common room with Ron and Hermione, discussing their Defence assignments. Not only had the two of them managed to get non-Slytherin partners – Hermione had ended up with Luna, for crying out loud- they also had much easier tasks to complete than stupid non-verbal spells.

So far the two had been trying to cheer him up, though they didn't quite understand the reason he was apparently pissed. They thought he was annoyed at Snape and/or Malfoy for having to be his partner for two weeks. Harry didn't actually mind. After having two conversations where they had managed to get along he wasn't too bothered about it. What he was bothered about was the small voice at the back of his mind saying that he was in fact looking forward to spending time with Draco.

It wasn't just bothering him, it was scaring him. Harry was also acutely aware of how much time he had spent watching Draco- on the train ride there, surreptitious glances during the feast- which he was sure Hermione had noticed, when they had passed outside the entrance hall, and in their Defence lesson. He also hadn't spent this much time thinking about someone since he had fallen for Ginny back in 6th year. This thought passed through Harry's mind he started to worry a lot more.

There was no way he could be gay, absolutely none. I mean he dated Cho and Ginny, hadn't he? Well, he and Cho had been a complete disaster, and he still hadn't worked out why he no longer felt the same way about Ginny, but nine of that meant he was gay. And he certainly couldn't like Draco- the guy was a total prick; they had hated each other on sight, and had fought almost every single day of their lives' at school.

 _Now we both know that's not true_  cut in the small voice in Harry's head- the one that apparently liked Draco.  _You didn't hate each other when you met in Madame Malkin's did you? And of course he acts like he hates you- he offered you his friendship in front of the whole year and you rejected him. How embarrassing must that have been for him? Also if you hate the man so much why have you suddenly started calling him by his first name?_

'Well that's just because we were getting on well', Harry replied, vaguely wondering why he was arguing with himself- shouldn't the voice be agreeing with him?

_If that's the case why not call him that to his face. And just because I'm you doesn't mean I have to agree- I want what is best for me, and right now that means us sorting out our confusing emotions, which is impossible without all the facts that you seem to be conveniently forgetting._

Harry had become so caught up in his internal argument that he hadn't noticed his two best friends talking to him, and were now looking at him with slightly worried expressions. "Sorry, what? I think I zoned out for a minute there."

"I said" repeated Hermione "that if you want all six of us could study together, then it might not be so bad."

"No, it's fine," he sighed, "I can cope with Malfoy, no need to inflict him on other innocent people." Harry smiled at the couple, and their conversation moved on to the rest of their day; complaining about Snape and the amount of homework they already had, discussing new teachers, and most importantly who was dating who.

Harry zoned out again once they got to some stupid rumour that Goyle and Bulstrode were now together, and returned to his thoughts. 'Why did I reject their company' he wondered, 'it's not like I want to actively seek out time I can spend with Draco, is it?' As this doubt lodged itself in the back of his head Harry returned to the chatter, until he became to tired, excusing himself and heading up to the dormitory.

A few minutes later Harry was lying stretched out on his bed dressed in pyjamas, attempting to return to the tired state he had been in just moment before in the common room. Try as he might his had stayed full of buzzing thoughts, flying around his head like a swarm of bees, refusing to stay put and let him rest.

Harry listened to the sounds of his room mates getting ready through the thick curtains around his bed, and heard as one by one their breathing pattern changed and they fell asleep. He lay staring out at the darkness around him, trying to decide what to do. Normally when he couldn't sleep he would go for a wander around the castle, but the last time he tried that he had ended up running into Draco, which he was still trying to convince himself he didn't want to do.

Giving in he silently opened the hangings around his bed and began preparing to slip out of the common room for the second time in as many nights. He wandered through the school, his feet leading him down the corridors until an icy breeze hit his face. He looked around him, surprised at his location. He was standing at the top of the Astronomy tower. He could see across the school grounds, all the way from the lake to Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forest.

Everything was completely still, not a single thing moving in the dark of the night. After admiring the view for a few seconds he stepped away from the edge of the tower. Though most of it had been completely repaired the low wall set up to protect people from the long fall down there were still gaps in the masonry, and Harry had escaped death too many times to start pushing his luck now. Instead he turned to look at the rest of the circular room. Gone were the fallen stones, the blast marks from rebounding spells, even the tingling feeling left by large amounts of residue magic.

What was there were clean, sharply cut stonewalls, heavy wooden benches and matching desks for the Astronomy classes. The only difference between the new classroom and the original was that now near the wall was a small plaque on the wall with a single name and two dates where He had stood before Snape had cursed Him off the tower. Harry brushed his hand across his check, wiping away the few tears that had fallen. He turned his back and sat down on one of the desks.

Hearing a noise from the door behind him, Harry whipped round, drawing his wand with what would be surprising speed if you hadn't known the events of the previous year. He relaxed as he saw a tall figure with fiery red hair standing in the doorway, shoving his wand back in his pocket.

"Hey mate. Reckoned I'd find you up here."

"Hey Ron. Yeah, just trying to clear my head, y'know? Work out this whole Dr- Malfoy thing." He hoped Ron hadn't noticed his slip up. He had almost called Draco by his first name  _out loud_.

"Yeah, that partner thing really sucks. I didn't think it would bother you this much though." He gave Harry a look, as all he got in return for this statement was a non-committal grunt. "That is it, isn't it? You don't want to be his partner?" Now Ron was sounding confused, not quite following his best mate's train of thought.

"That's the thing though," replied Harry. When Ron's look of confusion only continued he decided to expand his answer a bit, "I don't really mind having to be his partner. I think I'm sort of, well, actually kinda looking forward to it." At this unsure deceleration Ron's look of confusion changed to one of worry, and he raised the back of his hand to Harry's forehead. Now it was Harry's turn to look confused. "What exactly are you doing Ron?"

The redhead removed his hand saying "Checking for a fever or something. You just said you were looking forward to spending time with  _Malfoy_. You don't have one though. Who are you and what have you done with Harry?" He was about to laugh when he realised Ron was deadly serious, and he said as much.

"You're being serious, aren't you?"

"No, I'm being myself, you idiot," he said with a small smile.

"That joke got old a long time ago. And I'm still me as well. It's just been really weird recently," Harry paused, trying to decide the best way to voice his muddled thoughts. "It's like I can't get him out of my head, y'know?"

"No, not really, it's  _Malfoy_."

"Yeah, you said. Well I haven't spent so long thinking about someone, since… Since I fell for Ginny. And it's starting to scare me." Harry finished and watched Ron for some sort of reaction. He looked like he was deep in thought. Since most of the time Ron acted so relaxed and carefree, this was quite an odd look for him to see upon his friend's face. He continued to watch Ron until he looked up with a thoughtful expression.

"Harry, you don't think that you're, well, gay, do you?" Harry sat in silence for a moment, seriously considering the question. It would certainly explain why he started to feel differently about Ginny, and why he pent so much time that he didn't have just looking at Draco, and why he spent so long, well, obsessing about his hair. And eyes. And fingers. And, yeah you get the picture.

"I think that maybe I might be." Ron nodded.

"And you like Malfoy."

"Pretty sure, yeah." He nodded again. The next question surprised him.

"How much?"

"Umm, well, I dunno. Like I said I spend a lot, _a lot_ , of time thinking about him. Have you noticed that now that he's grown his hair it keeps flicking into his face. And his eyes are a really amazing silver colour, and they can see right through you, like he knows what you're thinking. And when he was fiddling with his quill earlier did you see how elegant his fingers were?" Ron blinked at him, surprised by the sudden rush of information.

"No, I can honestly say I hadn't noticed. Bloody hell, I think you've got it pretty bad mate." Harry dropped his head, looking at his hands sitting in his lap.

"Yeah I have, haven't I? But it's  _Malfoy_ ," he said, repeating Ron's earlier sentiment.

"Yeah, I know. We're going to have to tell Hermione all this. I mean, I've got no idea how to set you up with him."

Harry stared at him, unblinking. "You've no idea how to...?"

"Set you up, no. Hermione probably will though."

 

"But aren't you, I don't know, mad or something?"

"Harry, you're my best mate, why would I be mad. It's not your fault who you get a crush on, though I will admit it's a bit weird that it's Malfoy."

"Oh. Okay then. But in the morning it's," Harry did a quick tempus, "half two in the morning, we really should be in bed, come on."

The two teenagers walked down the stairs of the Astronomy Tower, back towards their common, and their soft comfortable beds, both of them in shock. Ron because his best friend had just told him he was gay, and had a crush on Malfoy, who had been his enemy since first year, and Harry because Ron seemed to be ok with it.

HPDM Draco's POV HPDM

Draco was sitting at the Slytherin breakfast table, talking to Blaise and Millie about the transfiguration, absolutely in no way at all thinking about a certain wizard with messy black hair and bright green eyes. He also definitely did not watch as said wizard entered the Great Hall, flanked on either side by the Weasel and Granger.

He also certainly didn't notice that she was looking completely relaxed as if she was walking to breakfast, which she was, unlike the other two who were so tense they looked like if they fell they would shatter into a million tiny pieces.

Draco was concentrating on not wondering why this was, and why he was having to use up so much energy to not think about Potter, when the other two stood and he realised that at some point people had began leaving to class, and the hall was now only half full.

As the three left for Transfiguration they passed the Gryffindor table and, even though he was in no way watching him, Draco snuck a glance at Potter, quickly looking away as he noticed the other boy doing the exact same thing. Granger had been looking worried about the Weasel and Potter's uncharacteristic seriousness, apart from the faint pink tinge that passed across Potter's face when he looked at him. Wait a second, Potter had been looking at him, and when he saw him he blushed. What was going on?

He snuck a second glance and he was now studiously staring at his plate, ignoring him again, though he wasn't touching his food. Odd.

Leaving the group to there weirdness he, Blaise and Millie left, reaching the classroom in plenty of time. The other two talked him out of sitting them at the front; they would get enough unwanted attention as it was, so instead sat in the middle of to the side, the three sticking together. Eventually the N.E.W.T. class was full of 7th and 8th years and Professor McGonagall entered. So began their second day back. Only one left until the weekend, thank Merlin.

Draco stared out of the window as McGonagall went over the days lesson, a piece of chalk floating in front of the blackboard, writing as she spoke. It was quite sunny outside, with a few clouds in the sky; perfect for flying warm air currents to lift you higher, clouds to stop the sun from blinding you, and the warmth to stop you freezing to your broom like in winter.

The try-outs for the Quidditch teams were in two days on Saturday, and Draco still hadn't decided if he wanted to go or not. He loved flying, it was one of the best things in his life, and he wanted to be seeker again; flying at break-neck speeds across the pitch, out-flying and out-smarting your opponent. But just like in choosing the seats in class he wasn't sure if he wanted more attention.

He was already an ex-Death Eater, and once you removed the glamour he had the Mark to prove it. There were a lot of people in the school that hated, even more once he wasn't charged, and some that might even want him dead. Showing off on the house team was probably not the best survival tactic. Just study, eat meals in the Great Hall and hang out with friends- those were his three aims for the year. No fighting, no arguing- even with the Golden Trio –no showing off. Absolutely nothing to make people notice him. He was only one day in so far, but no one had tried to hex him. Yet.

Eventually the class finished and Draco went to the Library where he had agreed to meet Potter to work on their Defence assignment, as they both had a free hour. He had been quite surprised when he had found out that they were doing exactly the same subjects bar one. Who would have thought that they would have something in common? Apart from their love of Quidditch obviously.

Draco wandered off through the maze of towering bookshelves trying to find an empty desk for them to work at. Eventually he found one near a window, overlooking the Quidditch pitch, and he sat down, leaving his bag on a spare seat, and began to wait for Potter.

HPDM Harry's POV HPDM

Harry entered the library, casting his gaze around for Draco. Easier said than done; for such a sunny day out the library was surprisingly full.

Eventually he found Draco sitting at an empty desk, near the back of the library next to a window. As he saw him his breathe caught in his throat. He was sitting staring out the window, completely lost in his thoughts, sunlight dancing across his golden hair, his silver-grey eyes dark and shadowed, contrasting with his pale skin, making him look some sort of haunted angel.

 _Yeah, because that doesn't make you sound gay at all_ , said the annoying voice in his head. 'Well then it's a good thing I am', he thought, as he slowly made his way over to the Slytherin. He sat down opposite him, waiting to be noticed. After a few seconds of this he cleared his throat and Draco looked up, his face colouring slightly as he saw who it was. The two stared at each other for a few seconds, unsure of what to say.

Eventually Harry broke the silence, "So, um, what books do you think we should be getting out?" he asked desperately, trying to break the awkward silence. Instead of the expected snarky reply Draco actually suggested they go look in the defence section of the massive library, and so the two set off, leaving their bags to save the table.

After a few minutes they returned two piles of books hovering in front of them. Draco sat down in his original seat, and Harry sat next to him- just so they could look at the same book, not that he wanted to sit next to the blonde or anything like that. They sat in silence pouring over the pages of the musty old books, every so often taking down notes, or other references to look up.

As they sat next to each other Harry became ridiculously aware of how close they were, as over the last half hour they had slowly been edging nearer and nearer so they could both see the pages of the book. He lifted his had up to turn the thick parchment, accidently-on-purpose brushing his hand against Draco's.

Time froze. Clocks ceased ticking, people stopped whispering, the birds outside became silent, as electricity coursed through his hand, and up his hand. Just as soon as it had started it stopped, and Draco jumped up, his chair toppling over in his haste. He grabbed his bag and rushed out the library, leaving his parchment covered in his neat curling handwriting, and a very confused Harry.


	5. Friendship

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco stormed into his dorm room, slamming the door behind him, before collapsing on his four-poster bed, covering his face with hands. He groaned. What was he doing? He had just completely over-reacted- all that he had done was brush his hand, and he run off like some scared little fer- no he did not, in any way, resemble a ferret. No matter what anyone may have said. Rabbit. No, that wasn't much better than ferret. Well maybe a, actually it doesn't matter, the point was he resembled some sort of animal that scares easily.

Actually the point was that he had run off because some guy's hand had brushed his, and now he was hiding in his dorm room. How pathetic was that?

Why had he reacted like that anyway? There really seemed to be no logical explanation. As Draco lay sideways on his bed, face still smothered by his hands in an attempt to block out the world, sorting through his muddled thoughts he heard a noise. If he hadn't already been completely still he would have frozen as the door began to open. Blaise poked his head round the door, obviously looking for his best friend. Draco let out a breath he hadn't been aware he'd been holding. Had it been anyone except him he would have yelled at them to get out, but not Blaise. He was the one person he could always talk to, who had always been there for him. It was him he'd told when he realised he failing Defence in first year, him he'd gone to for advice about how to get Pansy to leave him alone when she had had a crush on him in third year, it was him he'd confided in when he realised he was bi in fifth year and didn't want his father to find out. There had only been one time when he hadn't told Blaise his secret, in sixth year, and that had really worked out well. He knew it was dangerous to have someone who knew so much about you, that it was a weakness, that they could turn on you without a moment's notice. At least that's what his father had always told him, but recently he had been questioning everything Lucius had ever told him.

At the lack of emotional outburst Blaise had entered the room, silently shutting the door behind him, and was now hovering uncertainly in the middle of the room, unsure what to say to his friend. Draco removed his hands from his face, slowly running his fingers through his now-messed up hair, looking over at the tall dark skinned Italian. He squirmed slightly under the unblinking gaze, deciding to break the silence.

"So"

"So?"

"So, why did you practically run up here, like you were being chased by a blast-ended skrewt?"

"I did not r-"

"Yes you did Draco," his friend sighed, sitting down on his bed opposite, "something must've really freaked you out for you to drop your 'Ice Prince Mask'"

Draco could practically hear the air quotes clanging around the phrase as he spoke. He considered denying the fact for a moment before he saw the look Blaise was giving him, changing his mind.

"I don't get 'freaked'," his friend opened his mouth to scoff, but Draco continued, "I get momentarily panicked. And," he paused. Just because he always went to Blaise, didn't make talking about anything personal any easier.

"Yeah, I was panicking." Sometime during the brief conversation he had sat up, and at this admission he flopped back on the bed, running his hand across his face. He was now past the point of caring about his appearance- his hair was mussed up from running his fingers through it with worry and his robes were getting crumpled from lying on the bed. Blaise sat silently on the opposite one, waiting for Draco to continue; he knew if he tried to force him to say anything he'd be lucky if he heard a single word out of his friend for the next three days.

"It's just, I don't even know why, I just overreacted a bit."

"Ok, well what happened? Maybe then we can work out why you acted like that."

"That's it though; nothing really happened. Potter and I were sitting doing research for that stupid Defence project, he went to turn the page and his hand brushed mine. That was it."

"Ok," Blaise paused for a moment thinking, "Yeah, that was overreacting. And a spot more than 'a bit' at that." Draco glared at his friend. "And that's not helping. So why did you react like that?"

Draco's gaze dropped to his hands for a few moments, as he sat still as a statue, lost in thought. Suddenly his head snapped up and he stared at Blaise, his face frozen in a look of shock.

"I think..."

"Yes?"

"I think I might like him..."

"Ah..."

HPDM Hermione's POV HPDM

Harry and Ron sat on one of the sofas next to the fireplace in Gryffindor Tower, speaking in hushed tones so that their conversation didn't carry across the room to where Hermione was sitting reading. They were casting furtive glances over to her every so often.

As they glanced over for what Hermione thought must have been the hundredth time in the last ten minutes, she saw out of the corner of her eye as Ron nudged Harry in the ribs, apparently urging him to come over. She tried to hide a small grin; apparently he was finally going to tell her that he had a crush on Malfoy.

She had noticed, well, ages ago really. She had first had her suspicions when they had been at the welcome back feast; Harry had been watching Malfoy for the whole train journey up, had defended him when they were talking about him in the carriage ride up, and during the feast he hadn't been able to keep his eyes off him. Her suspicions had remained just that though until the Defence project, when they were assigned as partners. And the other Gryffindor hadn't really minded. Actually he had talked them out of studying with them. Add to that that he had been looking especially tired recently; a result of his night time wanderings, she was sure, which he only took when he was particularly worried about something.

She watched as her boyfriend gave Harry a final nudge, well more of a push, causing him to stumble towards her. He caught himself and walked over, trying to look as though he hadn't just almost fallen flat on his face. He sat down in the seat opposite her, suddenly incredibly interested in inspecting the table in front of him. She quietly shut the book she had been pretending to read, not bothering to mark her place, leaning her elbows on it as she watched him.

"Harry, I think I know what you're going to tell me."

The raven haired boy snorted, "I really doubt that."

"Ok, then prove me wrong." Hermione wasn't unsympathetic, but she did not want to spend her whole evening trying to wheedle information she already knew out of her friend. She had much more important things to do, like planning on how to set them up.

"Well, I've kind of got a crush on Malfoy."  
"I know."

Harry looked at her completely dumbstruck.

"You know?"

"Yes, I worked it out ages ago. Now get Ron to come over, since you've finally told me we can start planning on how to get you together," she said, almost mirroring Ron's reaction. She watched him with a cheery grin as Harry waved over the redhead, who looked just as surprised at Hermione's reaction as he did.

"So you're really not bothered?"

"Harry, after everything you've been through, in your whole life, not just the last year, you deserve to be happy. And if dating Malfoy of all people will do that, then so be it."

This time Harry returned her grin, thankful, not for the first time, that he had such great friends.

Not wasting any time, Hermione cut straight to the plotting; "Ok, first we have to work out if he likes you."

"Actually," cut in Ron, "first we have to find out which way he swings."

"Yes," she agreed as she reached down into her bag, fishing out a spare piece of parchment and a quill. Yes, she was going to write this down.

"So, one: which way he swings. Two: if he likes Harry. If so three will be pretty simple," she turned towards Harry, who was in a slight state of shock at his two best friends acting so calmly, "you just ask him out. If he doesn't then we'll have to arrange a few situations so you can spend time together; the project should make that pretty easy. Then you can get to know each other and stuff."

"And then," cut in Ron, "you can start dating."

Hermione and Ron smiled at each other, completely forgetting that Harry was still sitting next to them, despite him being the topic of their conversation.

Hermione's brain continued to turn, sorting out details and smoothing wrinkles. She was going to put into this at least as much, if not more, effort into this as she did her homework.

She turned to Harry, remembering she was still there. There was no way this would work if he actually knew what they were planning.

"Ron and I need to put some finishing touches to this. It would be better if you didn't know; we'll need your honest reaction to some of the ideas I've got."

Harry simply, obviously still in a daze, all control over his love life being taken away from as easily as flicking a switch.

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

The next day Harry was sitting in the library, struggling with a particularly troublesome Potions essay. Though even he had to admit he wasn't the best at Potions; a relatively simple one could have stumped him eventually. Really, if he didn't need the subject to become an Auror- a career choice he was no staring to re-think- he would never have taken the damn thing.

Half an hour later and one small, probably incorrect, paragraph later he left out a loud sigh his head slumping onto his arms.

"What  _are_  you doing Potter?" a voice drawled behind him.

Great. As much as he had enjoyed talked to him, and liked, okay like-liked him, he really couldn't be bothered with Draco right now.

"Collapsing on the table Malfoy. I would of thought that was obvious," came the muffled reply.

"It is. I meant why are you collapsing on the table? Whatever you're doing can't be that bad, can it?"

Harry lifted his head and turned in his chair to face the Slytherin, trying to ignore the way his stomach squirmed when his hair fell into his eyes yet again. The boy's fringe must be plotting against him; there was no way it was so hard to get your hair to stay in place. Apart from his own obviously.

"Oh yes it can. Potions essay."

"Is that all? Please don't tell me you're having trouble with that. It took less than an hour." The other boy dropped his bag, sitting gracefully down onto the seat next to Harry. "Give it here then, let's see what you've got."

Harry slid the single piece of parchment, which had so far spent almost an hour and a quarter torturing him, across the table towards him.

He watched as Malfoy read the offending piece, his eyebrows slowly rising as he got further through.

"I knew you were bad at Potions Potter, but not this bad. How long has this taken you?"

"Seventy-five minutes." He mumbled back, trying to hide the blush. It really was rather pathetic.

"Seventy-. Dear Merlin. Okay, get some more parchment it'll be easier to start from scratch; hardly any of this is salvageable."

"Get some more…" Harry trailed off. Was Draco actually offering to help him with his homework of  _his own free will_? Something strange was going on.

"Parchment Potter. You know? Thick yellow stuff. You write on it. It would be helpful for you to do your homework on."

"Are you helping me?" Harry blurted out, unable to contain his confusion and surprise any longer.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes Potter, I'm helping you. This essay is utterly abysmal; you need all the help you can get."

"Okay then…"

Harry reached into his bag, pulling out a couple of fresh sheets of parchment.

"Okay so first of all you use a Billywig's sting, not its wings. Only idiots like Xenophilius Lovegood think they actually do anything."

Draco went on commentating like this, Harry writing things out for the next forty minutes, until Harry had completed his essay, twice as long as the original, written in half the time and probably also twice as good, at the very least.

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco sat staring at the Gryffindor. This time he was allowed to stare because he was dictating to him, and needed to see what he was writing. At least that's what he would've told anyone who asked why he was watching the other boy so closely. His messy black was still all over the place, just as it had been since they were eleven. His eyebrows were furrowed, making a small crease above his nose, right between his bright emerald green eyes. Every so often he would push his round glasses back up his nose; he was leaning so far over the parchment Draco was amazed slip onto the desk and be done with it.

Draco edged his seat closer, under the pretence of checking one of the sentences, and their arms met on the table, sending a small jolt up his arm. Yep, he definitely had a crush.

His heart began to beat faster as Harry edged oh-so-slightly closer, until their arms were touching from wrist to elbow.

Draco didn't move a muscle: he was too scared that if he did he would turn tail and run. Again. And he really didn't want to do that. Not now. Not after what he had just admitted to Blaise.

Merlin, if any of the other Slytherins knew he was thinking about anyone, never mind Harry bloody Potter, like this he would be a complete laughing stock for weeks.

Here he was, Draco Lucius Malfoy, getting butterflies in his stomach because their arms were touching. Here he was, obsessing about how incredibly hot Potter looked, with his just-rolled-out-of-bed hair, that others would spend hours trying to perfect, but he could achieve by accident. Here he was, sitting in the close-to-deserted library staring into his shockingly bright eyes.

Crap.

He had been so lost in his thoughts (about Harry) he had been openly staring at the Gryffindor without even realising. Harry just cocked an eyebrow and smirked. Yes, smirked. Merlin, he looked hot when he did that- even more so than normal. Had he thought that already? Who cares, it was definitely worth repeating.

Draco turned back to his Potions textbook, still pretending to be looking some fact or another, hoping to Salazar that he wasn't blushing. Yes he had a crush, and he was probably acting like a stupid teenage girl, but he was still a Malfoy, and Malfoy's don't blush.

"So," Draco paused, unsure of what exactly he was going to say, "So, I think that's that. You're all finished."

Harry took back the essay, "Yeah, thanks for your help. II would probably have been here all day otherwise."

Draco watched as he scanned the essay.

"You know, I think this is my best essay ever."

"Really?" He was honestly surprised; apart from Potions he had been under the impression that the boy next to him did well at everything. Even in Potions he had thought him to be pretty average.

"Yep. Remember in fifth year Snape graded our essays to an O.W.L. level?"

The Slytherin smiled as he nodded: he remembered well. He had gotten an O for it.

Everyone thought he only did well in the subject because Snape was his godfather, and favoured him over everyone else, but Draco knew it was because he was actually good at it: definitely his best subject. He would research the potions before spending at least an hour writing his essay, enjoying it the whole time. All of this flashed through his memory in mere seconds, luckily or he would have ended up sitting with a glazed expression plastered across his face. Not a good look on anyone.

"Well I got... Don't laugh ok."Draco nodded again, hearing the underlying threat, "I got a T."

Draco's eyes widened. A 'T'. That was ridiculous. Even after seeing Harry's original attempt of the essay they had just finished, he still couldn't believe he could write anything that bad. Maybe his uncle was more prejudiced against him than he thought. That was hard to imagine.

Wait a second. When had he started being Harry? He knew he still thought of him as 'Potter' when he spoke to Blaise a few hours earlier. And when he came into the library. So...

Draco noticed Harry eyeing him suspiciously. He really hoped he wasn't wearing that glazed expression.

"What? I'm not laughing," he spluttered defensively.

"I know. That's what's suspicious."

Draco opened his mouth to protest, before closing it again and giving an accepting nod. Just a few months ago he would have laughed.

"Godric, I can't believe I just told you that."

Now it was Draco's turn to raise his eyebrow. "Continue."

"I haven't even told Ron or Hermione that. Merlin knows why I told you. You've probably already thought up half a dozen ways to use this to publically humiliate me. Am I right or am I right?"

"Actually you're wrong," he replied, shocking both himself and Harry. If anyone else had told him that, or if Harry had told any other Slytherin, then that is exactly what would have happened. But since it was Harry telling him, he knew he wouldn't tell a soul. Without thinking he added "I don't tell my friend's secrets."


	6. Quidditch

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry was sat in Gryffindor tower, staring out the windows across the Black Lake, lost in thought. It had been four days since he had talked to Draco in the library and their truce had become more of a tentative friendship. Hermione and Ron still wouldn't tell him what their plan was, and spent all their time around him talking in whispers. As a result he had got bored spending time with them, so now spent roughly half his free time with Draco instead, the rest hanging out with Neville, Dean and Seamus.

The two had been surprised how well they got on once they had stopped fighting. At least, most of the time. He had gotten to know Draco better, and was shocked at how different he was from the pretentious git he had always thought him to be. He was kinder, more thoughtful and didn't really buy into the whole 'Pureblood Supremacy' thing. He was also a lot shyer, Harry had noticed, like he didn't want people to notice him. He could relate; it was tiresome having people follow you around, spreading rumours and gossip about you, presuming they know you just because they've heard all the stories. Except the difference was they were doing that to him and Draco for completely opposite reasons.

On Friday evening they had spend the best part of an hour discussing the war. Even though Harry hardly blamed Draco for what happened during that time, because of what had been unearthed at the trial and of how he had acted, the blond still felt the need to explain everything to Harry. About how his father had forced him into becoming a Death Eater, how he had threatened to kill his mother if he hadn't agreed to try and kill Dumbledore, how he had tried to avoid hurting or torturing anyone during the war, and tried to look after Luna and Garrick when they had been held prisoner; they had been in almost identical situations after all, the only difference being Draco was a hostage in his own home, not some random cellar.

Harry privately thought that made it a whole lot worse; your childhood home should be full of happy memories from growing up and now they would be diseased from ones of Voldemort torturing his family. He had asked Draco why he hadn't given them away when they brought to Malfoy Manor, but all he had got in answer was an awkward shrug.

From there they had ended up discussing the future, yet another surprise for Harry, apparently Draco wanted to become a Healer. This time when he asked why he got an answer.

"I don't expect anyone to forgive me for what I did during the war. Actually I'll be amazed if they do. All I can do is to try and make up for, and I'll spend my whole life trying to do so."

Harry had been so shocked at the reply he had sat in silence for several moments before he registered that Draco had been asking him something.

"What about you? Still want to be an Auror after everything that's happened."

He remained silent for a few more seconds; even Ron and Hermione hadn't considered that he may not want to be an Auror anymore, but here was Draco who he had been his friend for under a week, and seemed to understand him better than his two best friends whom he'd known all his life.

"Actually I don't know, I really don't. After the past year I don't think I can face doing that anymore; always being on edge, not being sure if I'll get home in the evening or und up in hospital. Having all those awful people everyday. I don't think I can. But…"

"But what?"

"But I don't know what else I could do. That's all I ever really considered doing. I don't know what else I'm good at."

His new friend hadn't known what to say to that and the two had sat in a heavy silence before heading up to the castle for dinner.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts by a tap on the shoulder.

"We've got to go mate. Try-outs start in ten minutes. Don't want to be late. You never know there could be someone in the country who's actually a better Seeker then you."

He laughed, grabbing his Firebolt before climbing through the portrait of the Fat Lady with Ron, who was trying out for Keeper again, and Hermione, who had been talked into coming to watch.

They walked quickly down the hallways heading towards the Quidditch pitch, until Harry stopped, turning in the opposite direction.

"Harry, where are you going?" Hermione called after him.

"I'll be back in two minutes. Just wait a second." He called back over his shoulder.

He rounded the corner, and sure enough there was Draco, exactly where they had agreed to meet, leaning against the wall.

"No Quidditch kit?" he asked the other boy, cocking his head to the side slightly.

The Slytherin shook his head. "Not trying out this year. We decided it would be best not to attract any more unwanted attention this year. Anyways our try-outs were yesterday."

He looked rather gloomy as he spoke. "Well that sucks- you were the only other decent Seeker in the school. Now I'll have no one good to play against. Who's 'we'?"

Draco brightened slightly at the compliment, "Me, Blaise, Theo, Greg, Millie and Pansy- she's been keeping us in check, making sure we're not late for class, that we always do our homework, not sitting in the front row. Stuff like that."

"Why wouldn't you sit in the front row?" he asked, puzzled at the last on Draco's- or was in Pansy's? – list.

"Easier for people to jinx you from behind," he shrugged, as if this was a normal thing to have to consider when choosing where to sit. Considering how most people felt about them actually, it probably was, for them at least.

"That's pretty rubbish," was all Harry could think up as a reply- what do you say when someone has just admitted that they spend most of their time waiting for them or their friends to be hexed? He decided it would be best to just change the subject. "You're still going to come though?"

"Maybe. But I was just going to watch you play." Draco smirked.

"You know very well that's not what I meant," Harry said trying to hide the blush creeping up his neck. "Let's go then, Ron and Hermione are waiting."

Draco groaned, "Fine then, come on, I want to spend as little time with the Weasel as possible."

Harry frowned slightly, "I've asked you not to call him that."

"And I've said that just because I'm friends with you, doesn't mean I have to like all of your Gryffindor gang. Anyway, I call Granger, well, 'Granger' don't I?"

"Yes, but you called her that before we were friends too."  
Draco rolled his eyes. "Details. Lets just go." He nudged Harry's shoulder with his own and the two returned the way he had come, back to where Ron and Hermione were waiting for them.

"We're already late, did you have to go get him too?" Ron moaned. His girlfriend elbowed him in the ribs, giving him a sharp look. "Oh, yeah right." Draco looked at Harry questioningly, but he just shrugged; he didn't know what Hermione and Ron were talking about either. Unless this was some part of their plan? But it had been him who had asked Draco to come with them.

They made it down to the pitch with less than a minute to spare. Hermione went with Draco to sit in the stands- that would be some awkward small talk; Draco and Hermione had barley spent two hours together since, well, ever really. It could have been worse, Harry supposed, he could have had to sit with Ron. Now there were some arguments people would pay good money to see.

Harry and Ron lined up along the side of the pitch with the other potential players; among them were the complete team of two years ago- Ginny, Jimmy and Ritchie- and also some students from younger years. However, unlike when Harry had had to hold try-outs, there were no first years, or groups of giggling girls, and everyone who had turned up for the try-outs were actually in Gryffindor.

To start off Dean had everyone do laps of the pitch, quickly removing half of the candidates, mostly the younger ones, as they had failed to actually stay on their broom, or if they did, could have been overtaken by a snail with a limp. It ended up that no one else had actually attempted to try out for Seeker or Keeper, so Harry sat at the side with Hermione and Draco, the latter of whom seemed very grateful for him to come break the suffocating silence, while Ron helped to put the new Chasers through their paces.

Eventually, after almost an hour and a half, Dean had picked out his new team. Ron and Harry had already been guaranteed places as Keeper and Seeker, Jimmy and Ritchie remained as the two Beaters, just as Dean and Ginny continued on as Chasers.

Pluto, who was in the same year as Ginny, was the only new addition to the team, being the newest Chaser. He was a pale boy, with dark, neatly cut hair and dark brown eyes. Though he smiled when accepted onto the team, he said very little, though Ginny said this was quite normal for him; he was very quiet, and kept to himself mostly, apart from a few close friends.

The team stood around chatting at the side of the pitch, try-outs now finished, and Hermione and Draco wandered over to join the group. The team nodded, greeting Hermione and Ron put his arm around her shoulders, but all of them, minus the trio, froze as Draco reached the group. Jimmy stepped forward; though he was a year younger than Draco he was easily as tall as the blonde and looked small enough to be intimidating.

"What do you want Malfoy?" he asked glaring at him. "Come to pick up tips, so you can spy for the Slytherin's?"

Draco matched the look and also took a step forward, opening his mouth for a retort that Harry could just see ending in a fight between Draco and most of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Before either of these could happen he stepped between the two boys.

"Draco's here, Peakes, because I asked him to come. And no, I know he's not a spy because he's not even on the Slytherin team, isn't that right?" The last part of the question was directed at Draco, who nodded mutely, obviously upset at Harry fighting his battles for him.

Ron pulled his pocket watch out, trying to find a reason to diffuse the awkward tension, and at failing at finding one made one up. "It's getting kinda late," he started, despite it only being half eleven, "and we have some stuff to finish off, so we should really be heading up."

"What stu-" Hermione started before Ron squeezed her shoulder slightly. "Oh, that stuff. Yeah we really should go finish that up. Harry, Draco, coming?"

The four walked away, pretending not to hear the uneasy muttering coming from their team-mates, though mostly from Jimmy and Ritchie, who hadn't been told about the conversations Harry and Draco had had, unlike Ginny and Dean.

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco walked sullenly next to Harry, behind Granger and the Weas- sorry, Granger and Weasley, not saying anything until they were out of earshot of the five other Gryffindors.

"What the hell Potter? I can handle my own fights. I managed well enough with you for six years, didn't I?"

He was extremely angry at the raven haired boy- he had made him seem like he couldn't stand up for himself, like he needed someone to hang around with him to protect him.

"I know you can," he replied, glossing over their past rivalry, "but I didn't really want to see you get in a fight with three quarters of a Quidditch team. I thought you were trying to keep a low profile this year? Fighting with two of the most well known Gryffindors doesn't really fit with that aim."

Draco huffed, knowing the other boy was right, and had, for once, actually put more thought into the situation than Draco had. "Well, yes, but…"

"But I made you lose face, I know. And I'm sorry, but it seems better than a detention."

The Slytherin looked at the boy next to him, staring, for once not to admire him. Ok, to not just admire him then. After spending all his time in Slytherin, or with his parents, he never really heard people apologise often, and certainly not as easily or for something as trivial as that.

"Umm. Yeah, well, it's fine, I guess."

'Really' he wondered, 'when did I lose the ability to speak in coherent sentences?'

Harry just laughed at his ineloquent-ness, and gave him a small nudge, "Lets go then, we have that 'stuff' to finish, remember?"

The two laughed some more as they heard Ron call back "Oi, I heard that y'know."

Two weeks had passed and now tension was starting to run high; in two days it would be the first Quidditch match of the season- Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw –and both teams wanted to get off to a good start. Thankfully it wasn't against Slytherin, meaning houses didn't need to defend their players from jinxes, or in some cases hexes from some of the more serious competitors, and other pranks.

Draco still managed to spend every other evening with Harry, discussing the upcoming match, doing various pieces of homework, mainly helping him with Potions now that they had handed in their Defence project, or generally hanging out. He refused to wear any Gryffindor colours to the match, however, as he 'liked being able to walk around with all his limbs attached, thanks very much Potter', though he had agreed on not sporting any blue or silver either.

It had now got to the point where Draco and Weasley could actually be in each other's company and only sit in stony silence, instead of the normal verbal sparring that took place, and he could in fact carry a conversation with Hermione, even if she was continuously thrown dirty looks by the ginger which she would pointedly ignore.

Finally Saturday came and the Great Hall was filled with excited chatter and the room was a sea of red, gold, blue and silver, though true to his word, Draco was wearing none of these, to the displeasure of his friends. As they sat eating breakfast the Gryffindor team entered causing the noise levels of the room to dip slightly, before rising again to become even louder. Further down the table he could hear the seventh years continuing the pool, taking bets on not only who would win but how and by how much. Draco gave Blaise a sharp look as he called over "Ravenclaw by… over fifty points." He caught the blond's eye "What? Now I'm not allowed to make money?" to which said blond rolled his eyes and returned to watching the Quidditch team. Harry caught his eye and gave him a smile and small nod, just as they headed to the opposite side of the room, causing butterflies to take control of his stomach and for him to resolutely return his attention to his toast.

"Really, I don't see why you hang out with him. He's such a… such a Gryffindor."

"Whatever Nott, I don't need your opinion when I choose my friends. And he's really not that bad anyway."

Blaise smirked, "Who'd have thought the day would come? Draco Malfoy defending Harry Potter."

The rest of the group smiled. "Yeah," continued Pansy, "the world must really have gone mad."

Draco smirked to himself as he watched their shocked expressions out of the corner of his eye as he just shrugged, smiled and continued with his toast, missing the look between the two.

As it got closer to eleven o'clock the stands began to fill with students, all wearing scarves or carrying flags or banners. Just as in the Great Hall there was an excited air, people on edge waiting for the players to appear from the opposite ends of the stadium. As in the hall, once they did the noise grew considerably, probably deafening some of the young first years. Everyone peered down to the grassy expanse below as the team captains shook hands. The Quaffle was released and the whistle blown. The game had begun.

The fourteen players shot into the air, one of the Ravenclaw Chasers catching the red ball as the two black Bludgers hurtled out of their restraints and began rocketing across the pitch. Draco watched with keen eyes as the tiny Golden Snitch was set free, but lost it as it whizzed through the players and out of sight.

Harry circled the pitch, simultaneously keeping an eye out for the winged ball and trying to shake the Ravenclaw's Seeker, who seemed to have decided it would be a better idea to mark Harry than search for it themselves. Half an hour into the game and the score was 30-10 to Gryffindor, though Ginny had been taken out after being hit by a Bludger. After this small tit bit of excitement the crowd had died down, and were beginning to become restless- it had been almost fifteen minutes since anyone came close to scoring.

Suddenly a gasp rolled through the crowd and Draco jerked his head up scanning the pitch for the reason of the noise. It didn't take long. Almost two hundred and fifty feet away a red and gold blur was diving towards the ground, presumably to catch the miniscule gold dot fluttering just above the grass. He was being closely followed by a similar blur, this one in shades of blue and silver; obviously the Ravenclaw had returned to stalking him at some point in the game.

Everyone in the stadium leaned forward as the two Seekers got closer to the Snitch, now neck in neck; even the Slytherins despite their protests about lack of interest.

"Who do you think will win?" ask Millie, in the hush that had fallen over the crowd, as they watched the Seekers race.

"Who cares," answered Greg, "D'you think they'll crash?"

Before anyone could answer Harry pulled out the steep dive with millimetres to spare arm held above his head. The other wasn't so lucky, hitting the ground with a sickening crunch, causing the crowd to wince.

Their sympathy was short lived however as very quickly the Gryffindor stands realised who had managed to catch the Snitch and had erupted into cheers. A smattering of applause swept across the Slytherin and Ravenclaw stands, neither particular happy at who had one, as Draco sat trying to hide his grin from the others around him. How much longer was he going to be able to hold up his Ice Prince pretence if he was friends with Potter?

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry's feet hit the ground with a loud thump, his knees almost buckling after having them wound around his broom for coming up to three-quarters of an hour. He heard similar noises as the rest of the team landed, engulfing him in a group hug.

As the crowds of people that always seemed to appear on the pitch after the end of a match slowly dispersed Harry trudged back up to the castle, along with his teammates. Somehow, even though he had been flying at around fifty feet in the air he still always managed to get covered in mud, and as a result was now in desperate need of a shower.

Harry stood in the now empty changing rooms; he had spent so much time soaking in the warm water that everyone else had returned to the tower to celebrate their win. He dropped the towel he had been using on his hair onto a bench and began looking for his t-shirt- it was all well and good standing in just jeans to dry your hair, but with no-one else in the room he was getting cold fast. Or almost no one.

"You played really well today. It was pretty stupid of their Seeker to try and follow you."

Harry turned to see Draco casually against the doorframe, an odd expression on his face.

"Thanks. Really no colours at all then?" he asked, referring to Draco's lack of red or blue.

"I promised didn't I? And I don't break my promises." The blond stood up properly and walked across the room to him, standing slightly closer than normal. He slowly reached up and trailed a few fingers through Harry's hair.

"You know if you don't bother to even try and brush it no wonder it sticks up all over the place," he said quietly, continuing to play with the black strands.

"Well it never makes any difference anyway," he replied, just as quietly.

Harry's breath hitched as Draco took another step forward and slid his hand down to the back of his neck. As he didn't react Draco took another step closer, until they were almost nose-to-nose, waiting. Harry stared into the grey eyes seeing the same odd look as when Draco had been leaning on the doorframe, and the first time they were in the library, though now without the fear or confusion.

With a jolt Harry realised he was going to be the one to make the first real move. He was the Gryffindor, the brave one, the courageous one, and this was a far as Draco could go. With his heart beating at a mile a minute he leaned forward, closing the gap between them and kissed Draco Malfoy.


	7. Caught

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry pulled away when he heard a gasp. He looked around and standing in the doorway to the locker room was Ginny, her eyes going glossy with tears.

"Ron and Hermione were wondering where you were," she whispered before turning and running out the room.

Harry took half a step away from Draco, trying to decide if he should go after her and explain… what exactly? That he thought he was gay? That he had a crush on Draco? Or if he should stay and talk to said crush. He looked into the other boy's grey eyes and the decision took under a heartbeat. Ginny wasn't going anywhere. Well she was, that was rather the point, but he could go after her later.

It took another half-a-heartbeat for him to start worrying. Oh gods, what if he was wrong? What if he had just completely misjudged the situation? He could have just ruined the friendship the two had been carefully building for the last month, since the start of school. But wait, it had been Draco that had come in, who had stood so close to Harry, who had looked at him like that. No, he hadn't misjudged it.

He felt a small tug as the elbow he had been holding moved further away, then another as the Slytherin took another step away, looking slightly shocked. Harry realised what was happening a second before Draco tried to turn to leave, giving him enough time, thanks to his Seeker reflexes, to tighten his grip on the other boys arm, stopping him from leaving.

"Oh no you don't- you're not getting away that easily."

"Sorry," mumbled Draco, surprising him- it was not a word you got to hear Draco Malfoy say, even when you were his friend. "It's just that… Well you… and I…" He paused for a moment, taking a calming breath, organising his thoughts, "I'm not a Gryffindor. When I get scared or surprised I don't stick around, I run. It's good self-preservation."

Harry raised his eyebrows; that was not the explanation he had been expecting. More like something more along the lines of Draco not flying for the other team, or him being in Gryffindor, or the whole 'Saviour of the Wizarding World / Ex-Death Eater' thing. Not 'surprised'.

"Well," said Harry, having no idea what he was about to say- Draco had always had that affect on him. It was probably one of the reasons they had fought so often; he was completely incapable of using the filter that was normally in place between his brain and his stupid mouth. "I've been waiting to do that since the start of term, I'm not letting you get away now."

"Really? Since September?"

"Yep."

"For a month and a half?"

"Uh-hu."

"And you never said anything?"

"No- wait, what?"

"Why," repeated Draco, as if speaking to a small child, "didn't you say something?"

"Like what?" asked Harry, absolutely mystified, "Hey Malfoy, I know we've been enemies since we were eleven, and we almost killed each other in sixth year, and we were on opposite sides during the war, but I think I'll be your friend now, oh and by the way I kinda like you?"

"Well obviously it sounds stupid if you say it like that. I was thinking more along the lines of 'Hey, I know we haven't gotten on well in the past, and have got quite a bit of history, but I think I like you and was wondering if you'd go to Hogsmede with me?'."

Harry watched the light dance on his blond hair, making it appear almost white, which really didn't help him think of a comeback.

"Shut u-"

It turned out that he didn't need a comeback after all as while he had been thinking Draco had stepped closer and kissed him again.

Harry leant in, pulling Draco closer with one hand which had somehow found it's way onto his waist, at the same moment as the blond wound a hand through Harry's damp hair. Harry realised that he hadn't actually gotten round to putting his shirt back on after his shower, which would make this situation a whole lot more uncomfortable than it needed to be if someone came in, but then Draco's tongue dragged across his bottom lip, and he decided he didn't really care. His mouth opened slightly and Draco's tongue slipped in, sliding across Harry's teeth, causing him to bite back a moan. He really should have done this a long time ago. His knees went weak as Draco let out a low moan as Harry's slid across the gap between his teeth and lip and he held onto the boy's shoulder to stop himself falling.

Eventually the kiss broke as the two surfaced for breath. Harry gave the Slytherin a once-over, admiring the slightly mussed up hair and his flushed cheeks.

"So I know we haven't gotten on well in the past, and there's quite a bit of history between us, but I like you and was wondering if you'd go to Hogsmede with me?"

Draco tapped his chin, pretending to ponder the question. "Harry, I'd be delighted."

"Great," he said smiling and pulled a shirt over his head and checked his watch, "Wow, we've been down here for half an hour, someone's gonna think we've killed each other or something."

"Yeah or something. You should get back to Gryffindor; The Wesa-" he cut himself off at Harry's sharp look, " _Ginny_  seemed in rather a rush. I wouldn't want to have to face your friends now."

"Oh, they'll be fine with it," Harry said off-handedly, trying to think about how to deal with the problem that was Ginny Weasley.

" _Really_? It's just that Weasley doesn't seem like he'd be that open to this. Especially since it's  _me_."

"You'd think wouldn't you? But nah, I told him in the first week of term and he was totally cool with it. Even though it's you. And," he continued, "when I told Hermione she'd already worked it out, which really I should have seen coming. They said they had a plan to get us together, but wouldn't tell me what; I needed to be 'genuine' apparently. They didn't seem to do much though."

Draco's eyes had widened as Harry's, rather lengthy, explanation had gone on. "Well at the risk of repeating myself; really? I think my opinion of Weasley just went up." He paused thinking for a second, "Don't tell him I said that though. I'll never hear the end of it."

"I won't," Harry laughed and then let out a huge sigh, "Now I need to go deal with Ginny. See you later?"

"See you later."

With a last smile at Draco he left the locker room and began the suddenly very long walk back to Gryffindor Tower.

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco stopped at a stonewall in the dungeons, which looked identical to every other bit of stonewall in the whole place, until he murmured "Ashwinder eggs," causing the wall to slide back revealing the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

Green light spilled in through the windows, filtered through the lake and the charmed fire crackled bright green in the grate. The whole room had a feel of being under water, a fact that was not helped by the occasional fish or Grindylow which swam past the window.

Apart from a few other eighth years, sat on the black leather couches next to fire, the room was deserted as it was the middle of the day, the weekend and surprisingly warm for October. The blond didn't noticed any of this, still lost in his thoughts, reliving the events of the last half an hour, and wandered towards the doorway to the Boys' dormitory.

"Draco?" The boy's head jerked up at the sound of Blaise's voice. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," he replied, somewhat confusedly, "why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just that, well to be frank you look like you've got your head in the clouds and you're actually smiling. Like a proper smile, not because you're laughing at someone or smirking."

"I am allowed to smile Blaise. It's not illegal."

"Are you sure? I thought there was a rule saying that you would get your Pureblood Elitist Git card revoked for actually being happy about something."

"Ha-ha Zabini. Hilarious, as always."

"Are you sure you're okay? That was an awful comeback." Draco was filled with dread as the confusion on Blaise's face disappeared, replaced with a look of complete clarity and he walked closer to Draco, lowering his voice so the others couldn't hear. "No. You didn't? No. Something happened between you and Potter didn't it?" Draco turned his head and watched as one of the Giant Squid's tentacles slid across the window, obliterating out most off the light, not meeting his friend's eye and trying to hide the blush he could feel creeping towards his cheeks; just because something  _had_  happened between him and Harry did not give his face permission to betray him. "It did, didn't it? Right come on."

"What? Let go!" Draco protested as he was dragged, rather forcefully, towards the dormitory by a determined Blaise Zabini

Theo looked up startled as the dark oak door swung open, making aloud thunk as it bounced off the wall, and was even more surprised as an embarrassed Draco was pushed into the room by Blaise- wait a second Draco, embarrassed?

"Guys, everything all right?"

"Just  _dandy_. Don't mind us Theo, I just need to talk to Draco. Just for a minute. Excuse us." And with that pushed Draco onto his bed and shut the curtains.

He said 'just' three times there, this must be serious. Knowing Draco he would probably end up complaining about it to the rest of the dorm, as usual, so there really was no need to be curious. But that didn't mean he wasn't. Theo put down his book and dug around in his drawer for an extendable ear. He wasn't in Slytherin for nothing.

Draco sat up, edging slightly out of arms reach of Blaise as the other boy cast a silencing charm on the bed.

"Right, now tell me everything."

"Blaise, you've been spending far too much time with Pansy and Millie. You sound just like a girl."

"Time and place Draco, time and place. This is serious."

"Fine, fine." He sighed, "Okay so I went down to the locker room after the match," he watched as his friend's eyebrows rose slightly; he could already tell where this was going, "and, well, basically we ended up kissing. And The Weaselette saw us." He added.

Blaise rubbed his face then brought his hands together, almost like a prayer, and watched Draco over his fingertips. "This is not good, very not good. If anyone finds out you're dead for sure. And what about the papers? They'll have a field day! 'Ex-Death Eater seduces The Boy Who Lived' or some complete rubbish like that. Oh Merlin, what if your parents hear about this? And  _she_  already knows? It'll be halfway through all of Gryffindor already!"

"Blaise, calm down. If you stress anymore your head will burst and this is a new shirt. And anyway, I've been thinking a lot and I've decided I don't care."

"You don't care? You, Draco Malfoy, do not care about other people's opinions? Are you sure you've not been hit on the head recently?"

"I thought this wasn't the 'time and place' for stupid jokes? And no, I don't. All the crap that has happened over the last two years was because I wanted to impress people. Well it started like that. I'm not going to let it mess me up again. I'm going to firecall my parents and tell them I'm bi. Then I'm going to go on my date with Harry next weekend. And then, if this actually gets serious we will go to the press- someone decent, not that Rita Skeeter bint, and give them an interview, so then there won't be a horde of lies and rumours flying around. I think that's all the problems yes?"

"You missed out Weasley, the Gryffindors and the rest of the school."

"Harry's dealing with the Weaselette. Apparently Granger and Weasley already know so they'll have stopped her from telling, and unless you've blabbed, no one else knows."

"You're acting very calm about this. Normally there would a lot more posturing and snarky comments. Just generally more showing off and being the Drama Queen you are."

Draco gave him a playful punch on the arm. "And you know you wouldn't have me any other way. I think I've realised, finally, that there are more important things than your reputation."

"Going to tell the others then?"

"Woh woh woh. I said I'd mellowed, not that I was suicidal. Pansy alone would explode with excitement."

"Fine. The others might still be in the common room. Want to go outside and play exploding snap?"

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry hovered outside the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

"Hurry up would you?" complained the Fat Lady, "I don't have all day."

"Okay, fine. Moonstones, happy?" The Fat Lady made a disgruntled noise and swung open.

Harry climbed through the portrait hole into the bright warm common room and was instantly assaulted by Ron and Hermione.

"Harry what on earth is going on?"

"Are you alright, mate? It's just Ginny ran through here 15 minutes ago after she went looking for you. Looked like she was crying."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm great." He couldn't supress his grin, no matter how worried he was about talking to Ginny, "I kissed Draco."

" _Finally_ ," said Hermione grabbing him in a hug. "I told you it would work." She said pointedly at Ron who held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"That what would work? Your plan? Because I didn't see you two do much at all to help. You just spent your whole time whispering. It was bloody annoying."

That was the point, see?" explained Ron, "It was Hermione's idea. Basically we practically ignored you so you would get bored with us and hang out with Malfoy. Between the two of you something was bound to happen. I talked to Dean, who's got a friend in Ravenclaw who's friends with Bulstrode she said that she and Parkinson thought he had a crush on you. Simple really."

"Yeah,  _really_  simple. Here's my question; why didn't you just tell me he like me?"

Ron opened his mouth, thought, shut it and turned to Hermione, asking "Why didn't we tell him?" to which she just tapped the side of her nose.

"Fine whatever. Where did Ginny go?"

"Girls' dormitory. You remember the charm I told you to get in?" Hermione checked. As Harry nodded she smiled, "Good. Good luck."

Harry could have sworn he heard Ron repeat his previous question to Hermione and heard her mumble back 'Really, I don't know why we didn't think of telling them.' Maybe she wasn't 100% infallible after all. Surprisingly this wasn't actually a comforting thought.

"Ginny?" he pushed open the door to the seventh year dormitory. It was much neater then the boys' room but apart from that almost identical. Ginny sat cross legged on her bed staring at the wall, her bright ginger hair standing out against the blue Holyhead Harpy posters above her bed. Her eyes were slightly pink but that was the only evidence of her earlier distress.

The girl looked up. "Hey."

"Hey."

"So. You and Malfoy then? I'd say I'm not surprised, but I am."

"So was I."

"Really?"

"Yeah- that was the first time we kissed. Rather bad timing I think."

"Sorry, I think. Really though-  _Malfoy_?"

"I know. Funny how things turn out."

"You can say that again. Almost everyone was expecting us to get back together, get married and have the required two point six children."

"I know. I feel sorry for the kid that ends up being two fifths smaller than everyone else."

They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few moments; this was possibly the first time they'd been alone since Bill and Fleur's wedding, over a year ago.

"So, um, I gay."

"I kinda guessed. Your fangirls will be heartbroken."

"So-"

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault. I can't say I'm happy that it's Malfoy- I'm not going to start liking him if you're dating y'know. He has to work for that. But I'm fine with it. Well I will be- it just needs to sink in first I guess."

Harry smiled; he had missed talking to Ginny. "Thanks. If I'm ever straight again you'll be the first to know" he laughed. "Can we be friends again? I kinda missed this," he gestured between the two of them.

"We never stopped."

The two smiled at each other, their friendship finally back to where it was almost two years ago.

Harry settled down onto the opposite end of the bed. "So that game against Ravenclaw then. You flew really well."

And it really was like it had never stopped.


	8. Summer Storms and Plotting

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Early Saturday morning found Draco pacing in front of the Slytherin fireplace trying to gather the nerve to Floo to his Aunt Andromeda's house. After the war and his father being arrested, a majority of his family's assets were seized as well as his mother being held under house arrest at her sister's.

He paused in front of the fire. The sound of crackling wood filled the deserted room and green tongues of flame leapt off the logs, licking at the tiled hearth.  _'It's mother'_  he told himself,  _'You became a Death Eater to save her, she won't care.'_ The doubts remained wriggling in the back of his mind. What if she hated him? What if she thought it was disgusting? What if he was disowned – not long ago, as little as 20 years that was exactly what would happen. The 'disappointment' would be cast out, cut off from their family, friends and everything that they held dear. That or have an extremely powerful love potion, or sometimes even the Imeprius curse, used on them, having their free will taken away just to further the family line. ' _But that's not going to happen.'_

Stealing himself, Draco grabbed a handful of Floo powder and thrust it into the fire as he stepped in the flames, shouting out the address.

The world span. Glimpses of other rooms flashed in front of him; a dog barked as the fire flickered, a man sat drinking a mug of coffee, a couple of teenagers were asleep on a couch.

His knees buckled as his feet hit the solid stone base of the fireplace. He stumbled out with the force, remembering to duck to avoid cracking his head on the low mantle and quickly righted himself as his feet reached the plush carpet. He dusted soot off his dark blue-black jumper and removed some stray flecks from his pale hair.

Narcissa Malfoy sat poised on a light green sofa watching her son's less-than-graceful arrival – the main reason he disliked Floo travel. Light pooled around her from the floor-to-ceiling windows behind her. Her hair – the exact same shade of blond as her sons apart from the glossy black streak was piled up into an elegant knot and she was dressed in flattering black dress robes making her pale hair and skin appear even more luminous; still the epitome of the Pureblood upper classes, no matter how little they were wanted there.

"Draco," she greeted, a small smile gracing her features, "You wished to speak with me? I must say I am curious; what could be so important that could not be written in a letter or wait until the holidays?"

' _This is it,'_  he thought, taking a deep breath. Draco crossed the room and sat on the neighbouring sofa, turning to face her.

"You're right mother, this is important. Too important and delicate to tell you in a letter and I have been stalling for far too long now to wait another two and a half months." He balled his hand into a fist, leaning on his knees slightly to stop the slight shake that had started. He let out a calming breath for the little good it did him. Draco glanced down to his lap and back up to his mother's face whose normally calm gaze had been infiltrated by a look of concern at his anxiousness. He held her piercing blue gaze. "Mother, I'm bi."

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry hovered by the stairs in the entrance hall, toying with a loose thread on the hem of his shirt. He had sent Ron and Hermione off to enjoy their first Hogsmeade weekend as a couple and had then spent the next fifteen minutes explaining to each person that passed that no, he was fine, yes he was sure and that he was waiting for Draco. That last one normally scared them off; after a month and a half the school had more or less accepted that they were friends, though Harry and Draco were both pretty sure that there was a pool on how long it would take them to snap and end up having an all out duel in the Great Hall to make up for lost time, but very few would actually hang out with the ex-Death Eater, no matter how adamant Harry was that he had changed.

By now Draco was twenty minutes late and Harry, who had started off standing, which had become leaning on the wall behind him and ended up with him sitting on the ground wondering if he had been stood up. Just before he got up and left, deciding to find Neville, Dean and Seamus, footsteps came up from the dungeon. Harry's head jerked up facing the source of the echoing noise, but his shoulders slumped back down as Zabini appeared in the archway. Harry quickly dragged himself to his feet, not wanting to be seen moping about Draco by one of his closest friends.

"Potter," he stated, "Draco needs to talk you. Now." And with that he was gone, descending back into the dungeons.

Harry chased after him, not wanting to get lost in the maze of winding stone corridors that was Slytherin territory. The dark haired boy stopped in front of a piece of wall, seemingly identical to the rest, and lent in, murmuring the password.

The wall slid back, revealing the underground common room. High arched windows showed the lake and its inhabitants, murky green light filtering through to fill the room. It was freezing despite the blazing fire in the grate and Harry pulled his jacket closer around him. Footsteps echoed across the stone floor as Pansy got up off one of the black sofas and the two Slytherins left.

Draco was sat poker straight on the edge of the sofa staring blankly at the wall opposite. His eyes were slightly pink. Harry crossed the room and sat down, taking Pansy's vacated spot.

"Draco?" The blond turned to face him, blinking slowly. Harry smiled weakly, "Hey."

"Hey."

Harry edged closer and took Draco's hand, entwining their fingers. They sat in a cold silence for a few minutes, Harry unwilling to push him for information; he would tell him when he was ready.

A few more minutes passed before Draco spoke, "I talked to my mother today. I told her. That I'm bi," he added. Harry nodded waiting for him to continue.

"She didn't say  _anything_. Just kept staring at me like it was a bad dream. Then she just nodded and left. I think she hates me."

Tears had begun to leak out the corners of his eyes again, trailing slowly down his face. As Harry pulled him into a tight embrace Draco gripped onto his arms as if he was scared the Gryffindor was going to disappear.

"Draco," he spoke quietly into his ear, "she's your mother. She made the Unbreakable Vow to try and protect you. She lied to Voldemort so she could try and find you. She doesn't hate you."

"But-"

"No, no buts. This isn't my opinion; it's a fact. You are still her son this doesn't change that. She probably just needs time to adjust – anyone would. She doesn't hate you," he repeated, kissing him chastely on the cheek.

Draco leant back, trying to subtly dry his eyes on his sleeve. "Thank you Harry," he said giving him a half-hearted smile, which was returned.

He seemed to sit in deep thought for a few seconds, though little emotion passed across his face. Suddenly his eyes re-focused and he looked at Harry and his face split into a small grin, which, in the right light, could look slightly forced.

"So," he began, "I believe we had plans for today."

Surprised by the quick change in emotion Harry just nodded mutely and took his hand as they left the common room. The only flaw in Draco's cheery front was the hand gripping onto him for dear life, anchoring him to reality.

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Loath as he was to do it Draco dropped his –friend's? Boyfriend's? – hand.

"We've got to do this," he searched around for a suitable word, "properly," he explained at the other boy's hurt look. He sighed as it just changed to one of confusion, "You're the Boy-Who-Lived, the Saviour. Everyone in the Wizarding World is  _obsessed_  with what you do. Think of what will happen if people found out about us."

"Maybe I don't-"

"Harry if the next word out of your mouth I 'care' I'll hit you. You should care. We haven't even told our friends yet. If we go around holding hands the whole school will know, and then it will reach the Prophet and we'll end up with another story full of lies about us. Harry, they don't know us, they don't give a damn about the truth. They could easily make our lives a living hell."

Harry blinked in shock, "I hadn't thought of that."

Draco gave him his trademark smirk and shook his head, "Typical Gryffindor. You never have a plan for anything. Sometimes you really need a bit of Slytherin cunning."

"Hey!" Harry protested, "I can be cunning." Draco raised his eyebrow. "I just don't act like it often. I'll have you know in First Year the Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin."

"Really? Do tell," asked Draco, curious despite himself about this new change of events.

"Gryffindor was it's second choice. It changed it's mind, because, well… I sort of asked it not to," he mumbled, embarrassed. When the blond cocked his head to the side questioningly he continued, "All I knew about Slytherin was what Ron had told, which wasn't really positive as you can probably guess. All about how evil you all and stuff, and then I met you and… yeah," he trailed off.

"Ah. That would probably do it. I wasn't exactly the nicest person when I was younger, was I?"

Harry laughed as they left the school grounds, following the path down to Hogsmeade. "I think you're being too easy on yourself there. 'Arrogant prat' might be a bit more accurate."

Draco laughed and playfully hit Harry on the arm, possibly slightly harder than was strictly necessary, and their inane chatter carried them down to Hogsmeade.

They walked into the village, edging closer together as the sun hid its head behind a dark grey cloud.

"So, what do you want to do then?" Harry asked Draco as they wandered past Dervish & Banges and The Magic Neep.

"Ah ah ah," Draco pointed an accusatory finger at him, "You're the one that asked me out. You're the one who has to worry about what we do."

"Oh gods, I don't think I've ever actually planned out a date."

"Well I know that can't be true. You dated Girl-Weasley-" Harry gave him a  _look_ , "It's better than Weaselette, isn't it?" He defended himself before continuing, "You dated her for, what? Two months in sixth year, and I heard rumours about you and that Chang girl."

"I actually only went on one date with Cho- it was a complete failure. I still refuse to step foot in Madame Puddifoot's."

"I don't blame you. I really don't see why girls are so obsessed about the place; it's so pink and frilly. It's quite sickening."

"Exactly!" Harry agreed before getting the conversation back on track, and trying not to wonder why he was doing so, "Anyway me and Ginny were in the same house so we just spent most of our time hanging out in the common room and then there were exams and stuff and life just got in the way."

"Well don't you just have a great track record with girls," Draco smirked, which, instead of being extremely infuriating, Harry actually found quite attractive.

The two had by this point ended up walking so close together to vaguely shelter from the wind that Harry was able to slip his hand easily into Draco's without any of the sparse crowd of students around them noticing.

"You know, I think there might just be a reason for that."

"I think there might be to," Draco commented before falling silent.

"What? You're not thinking about what your mother said, are you?" Harry questioned worriedly.

"No, I'd managed to forget about that for now, thanks," was the snippy reply.

A slight red tint rushed to Harry's cheeks before he mumbled 'sorry'.

"I was trying to think of a way to get us to go somewhere to eat without actually suggesting it."

"Right, 'cause that's my job." He paused for a moment, "Draco it's kinda cold out and I'm starting to get hungry, do you want to go somewhere for lunch?"

"I wouldn't be too opposed to the idea."

The two boys glanced around at their surroundings, startled to find that they had managed to wander through half the village without noticing.

"Hog's Head?" Harry suggested, "It's closer than the Three Broomsticks, and there'll be less people there so we'll be left alone."

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco followed Harry into a small, dark pub at the edge of the village. The front bay windows were –unbeknownst to Draco- in fact in a better state than a few years previously, as was the rest of the building. This did not mean, however, that they were by any stretch of the imagination  _clean_ , just less dirty; the edges of the windows were black, but a few beams of light did break through the grime inside and in a few places the original stone slabs could be seen on the floor. He felt rather out of place hovering slightly behind Harry who seemed to be on surprisingly good terms with the owner and ordered them a couple of Butterbeers and some food.

They carried their drinks over to one of the many deserted tables- Draco would have been able to count the number of other patrons on one hand if he so chose.

He successfully sipped on his drink for exactly four seconds before blurting out "Ok, I give up. How could you possibly have found this place?"

Harry smiled – wait no,  _smirked_  at him. Apparently he was starting to rub off on him. "It wasn't actually me. Hermione did believe it or not."

Draco raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Granger? Really Potter?"

"We're back to 'Potter' already?"

"If you're going to try make jokes at me, then yeah, we are."

"Cross my heart," he said, making the suitable gestures, "Hermione found this place when she organised a sort of pre-meeting for-"

"For?" Draco asked his curiosity peaked.

Harry bit his lip, obviously unsure what to say. Eventually he came to a decision, asking, "Remember when we were in fifth year and you were in the Inquisitorial Squad?" Draco nodded quickly, wanting to get to the point. "Well remember that time you found a bunch of us having a meeting?" Another nod. "How much do you know about that? I'm sure how much I can tell you- I don't know if Hermione's jinx is still in place."

Draco filed that information away for later, along with how similar the barman was to Dumbledore. He easily thought back to fifth year- the year that absolute idiot Umbridge had been their Defence teacher; it had got to the point where they had made up a rather complicated time table so that the older students could teach the younger ones just in an attempt to  _pass_  the end of year exams. This was a lot harder than it sounded once you factored in Quidditch practice and Inquisitorial patrols which his father had forced him to join – to 'uphold the family's reputation' – as there was actually very little free time left. "There were lots of students in a hidden room. We caught some of you and then there was that list with all your names- leaving it on a pin board was not smart by the way. Something about an unlicensed club doing magic that was against those stupid Ministry guidelines right?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Pretty much, yeah. We were 'Dumbledore's Army'- back then we just learnt defensive spells. You know- all the stuff we should have been learning in class. By the end of the year I had every single one of them able to do a  _Patronus_. You've probably heard of them; in seventh year Neville, Luna and Ginny started it up again, like a rebel force against all the Death Eaters in the school. Well this is where Hermione chose to meet when we were still deciding who could join. She had us all sign this contract so we couldn't tell anyone about it; Marietta did and ended up with 'Snitch' written across her face in spots." Draco watched Harry trailed off lost in thought, a small smile on his face.

"Good times then?" Draco asked, wishing his fifth year could have been half as good as Harry's sounded.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for that I'd have probably never become friends with Luna. And I really enjoyed teaching them all. Take Umbridge out and it's probably one of my favourite school years, until the end." He paused for a second, "That's not much a compliment actually what with killer plants, Basilisks, escaped mass murderers and the Tournament."

Draco by-passed most of that sentence, jumping straight into the heart of it, "What happened at the end of fifth year? I don't remember much except the Weasley twin's dramatic exit."

"Not now," said Harry, shaking his head for emphasis, "Please? I'll tell you another time."

Draco nodded his head slowly but didn't drop his suspicion. No matter how he tried to brush it off something had happened to Harry at the end of that year and he was going to find out what.

At some point in their conversation their food had arrived and the couple had now finished.

"So, back out then?" Harry indicated to the street outside, barely visible though the windows.

The two spent the next hour or so visiting random shops, Honeydukes and Spintwitches amongst them, somehow managing to avoid most of their classmates, pausing for only a few minutes to chat with Ron and Hermione then Pansy and Blaise in turn.

"Want to go up to see the Shrieking Shack then?" Draco asked.

"Thought you weren't going to suggest anything?" Harry teased.

Draco forced himself not to stick his tongue out at him. "Surely you should know by now that I always break the rules Harry."

Harry snorted and they started up the winding path towards the abandoned building.

"It was never actually haunted you know." Harry said out of nowhere.

"What?" he questioned rather befuddled.

"The Shack. It's not haunted. That's just a rumour that started a few years back. Twenty-seven years to be precise."

"Ok…" Draco was now looking at Harry as if he had completely lost it, "That was apropos what exactly?"

Harry just shrugged and they continued up the hill. They sat down beside the trunk of a large tree to protect them from the wind, which was slightly stronger than when they were in the village sheltered by the buildings.

"I still say it was you. That time in third year when the guys swore that a ghost attacked them. I always said it was you, but no one believed me."

Harry turned away from the giant, dilapidated building and smiled and Draco. "Wanna know a secret?" he asked and leant in to whisper in his ear, "It was."

He dipped his head and kissed the blond on his jaw and began working his way down his throat. Draco let his head fall back - narrowly missing the tree behind him – giving him better access to the pale skin and grabbed his hips to pull the Gryffindor closer. He breathed in sharply as he nipped at the skin just above his collarbone.

He put a hand on Harry's shoulder and the other paused. "Harry, you're going to leave a mark," he gasped.

"Good. Don't worry that's what school shirts are for," he added at the look he was shot.

He ducked his head back down to the skin, licking at the spot just to make sure. Draco groaned and caught his chin, pulling Harry's face up and pressed their lips firmly together. Draco very quickly found his tongue in the other's mouth a spent a few enjoyable moments mapping out each part of it. He felt a hand snake up behind him and fist in his hair, undoubtedly messing up the impeccable style, but for once he couldn't bring himself to care.

Draco half leant half fell into the tree trunk and pulled Harry on top of him so the raven haired boy was straddling his hips. Draco was thumbing his hip, about to slip his hand under his shirt when he felt something damp fall on his face. His eyes flew open to be greeted with a mixture of bright green leaves and a growing mass of dark grey clouds.

A second drop of rain fell on his cheek and then a third. Very quickly the heavens opened and water was falling on the two by the bucket load. Draco fell back into the tree again and Harry collapsed on top of him, both shaking with laughter as the water soaked through their coats.

Draco cocked his head to the side and looked up at Harry whose hair was flattened by the sheer amount of water.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just always wondered what you looked like without a portable bird's nest on your head."

"You-"

Harry's hand darted forward, catching Draco unawares ruffling the soft locks until they stood up almost vertically off his head. Draco yelped and attempted to roll away, which just resulted on him sliding down to the base of the tree and becoming crushed by Harry.

"Ooft! Get off me!"

"I don't know, you make quite a comfortable pillow." Harry stretched out so he was covering the slightly taller boy. He watched with mock-concern as Draco feigned suffocation.

Draco slipped his arms around Harry's sopping jacket so he had him wrapped to him. "Well," he said thoughtfully, blinking rain out of his eyes, "I suppose there are worse ways to go than being crushed by your boyfriend."

"I quite like the sound of that," Harry murmured, giving him a lingering kiss. "Boyfriend."

After a few minutes of lying in comfortable silence, fat drops of rain falling around them Draco began to shiver. Harry pulled him up so they were both sitting, running his hands up and down his arms to attempt to warm him up.

"Come on. Let's go back up to the castle. You're getting goosebumps."

Harry jumped to his feet and Draco took the proffered hand and got to his feet, but didn't let go. They reached the village again and they dropped apart but, unlike leaving the dungeons, this time Harry slung his arm around the Slytherin's shoulders.

"We said we didn't want people to know we're a couple. Nobody said anything about stopping you from freezing to death."

"Good loophole Potter. I can see how you might have ended up in our house."

"Oh, shut up!" he smiled, "Do you want me to let you go cold?"

"No," he mumbled back and tried to surreptitiously shuffle closer to his warmth.

HPDM PoV HPDM

He walked down the corridor, his black boots treading the path worn into the thick layers of dust. His dark robes fluttered down around him as he came to a stop outside the large oak door and he knocked respectfully on the carved wood.

A harsh voice emanated from within, "Enter."

He pushed at the door it swung open easily on well-oiled hinges. Tall arched windows were hidden behind thick black curtains. The only source of light came from the green fire opposite them, lurking in the bottom of the grate, casting a ghostly green light across the room. One wall was lined with bookcases filled with tomes with names like _Secrets of the Darkest Arts_  and  _Confronting the Faceless._ In the centre was a small group of people, each wearing full-length cloaks that cast impenetrable shadows over their faces and covered their arms- he didn't have to see their arms to know that each one of them had a skull and snake tattooed on them. Escaped Death Eaters.

He bowed low as he approached and looked into the leaders eyes as he rose. The expected tingle behind his eyes came as he searched through the events of his last few days.

The voice spoke again, words flowing out of the dark figure. "You have a plan." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes sir. He has become very  _attached_  to the Malfoy boy." The young Weasley had not been the only one outside the locker room. Disillusionment charms were extremely useful. "It will be much easy to get Potter to come to us than fetch him ourselves."

The figure inclined his head. "How long until you act?"

"A week. Two at the most. We must be sure he follows."


	9. Jinxes and Insults

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco sat in a distant corner of the library, a growing pile of books next to him and a long scroll of parchment rolled out in front of him. He cast a drying charm on his Transfiguration essay and rolled it up before he carefully let the textbook fall shut, so as not to draw attention to him, and added it to the pile next to him. He walked up and down the aisles of books, using levitations charms to return them to their correct places.

Just as he put back the third last tome he heard a light voice behind him.

"Hello Draco."

He turned quickly, glad he still had his wand in hand; he hadn't really wanted to go to the library by himself but out of all his friends the only who also did Transfiguration was Pansy and there was more chance of Draco becoming best friends with the Weasel before she actually did homework before the morning it was due. He relaxed slightly as he saw Luna Lovegood standing behind him. Her wand was stuck behind her ear and she was wearing the radish earrings and Butterbeer cork necklace that Draco had seen her sporting before.

"Um, Hello Luna."

They stood in silence for a few moments as Draco wondered if she had a reason for talking to him, such as to fling insults at him- he quickly pushed that thought away. That would be the reaction he would expect from a  _normal_  person and for some reason the odd Ravenclaw didn't seem to be holding any sort of resentment or ill feelings against him after being locked in his basement only six months previously. Not that that made him feel any better about it.

"It's good you're looking after the books properly you know," she said out of nowhere, "I've seen people throwing them around and writing in them. They don't like that you see. It makes them annoyed but they can't do anything about it. The books souls are trapped in the pages. They can't go anywhere when they're shut but when someone reads them a little part of them jumps into their head so it can grow and be passed onto more people. That's why you get random thoughts in your head sometimes for no reason; a bit of a book has grown strong enough to become it's own entity and spreads through the air into people's heads. A bit like Wrackspurts, but instead of making you go fuzzy they help you think. Some of the best inventions we have are because off them. Like the spectrespecs."

"Right," said Draco, utterly mystified as to the proper response as to a lecture on Books' souls. The girl nodded cheerily at him at turned away, walking back the way she had come, humming absent mindedley to herself.

"Luna?" he called after her when she was a few steps away from him. She turned back to him, still smiling as if she were in a daze. "I just… I wanted to apologise. For before. When you were locked up."

Her expression didn't change when she replied, like him deciding to apologise to someone without being talked into it, in person, for the first time since he we was freed wasn't a big deal. To her it probably wasn't. "It's fine. It wasn't your fault anyway, I could tell in your eyes; the Wrackspurts were controlling you. It makes the bit around the pupil of your eyes go all scraggly when they've been doing it for along time. A year and a half is along time. It's almost gone now but the ghost of it is there, just clinging on. It'll be gone very soon. And I got to become friends with Mr. Ollivander and meet Mr. Dobby."

Draco settled on a quick nod, again unsure of what to say.

"You wouldn't happen to know the way down to the Dungeons would you?"

"Yes, our common room's down there. Why?" he asked, utterly mystified.

Luna twiddled with a colourful ribbon tied around her wrist while Draco put back the last of his Transfiguration textbooks. "I wanted to speak to the Bloody Baron."

Draco turned on her, eyes wide in shock. "You  _want_  to talk to him?"

"Of course," she replied, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "I like talking to ghosts. I'm quite good friends with the Grey Lady. She was Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter. The Baron loved her and killed her when she couldn't love him back then killed himself. I quite like star-crossed lovers stories; they always have so much potential for going right, as well as wrong, and I like trying to make sure they do. Like you and Harry."

Once again Draco was extremely glad he was such a good Slytherin and, by extension, a good liar. "I think you're mistaken Luna. Harry and I are just friends."

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone," was all she said and took Draco's arm and they walked towards the Dungeons.

The two left the library, crossing the close-to-deserted hallway. Portraits shuffled around their frames as they wound down for the night; at quarter to ten it was nearing to curfew when each torch that lit the school would extinguish itself, leaving the teachers and Prefects to patrol by wandlight.

Draco tripped forward, red scratches appearing across his palms as he put his arms out in front of himself before he hit the ground. Almost immediately Luna's hand was in front of him to help him and he continued walking a few steps before he realised she wasn't next to him.

"Luna?" he turned round to see where she had gone. The girl was stood with her back to him, facing the three other students- two Ravenclaws and a Gryffindor- all of whom had their wands out.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do," she said, staring defiantly at the sixth years.

"Nothing less than he deserves, Death Eater scum," said the Gryffindor, the one who seemed to have sent the Trip jinx, spitting the last part of the sentence at Draco.

"Well what did he ever do to you?" Luna challenged.

Draco tried to shift further away without abandoning his new-found ally; he knew exactly the type things he had done, they haunted him day and night. This was exactly the reason he hadn't wanted to go the library by himself; people were less likely to attack you if there was any chance of it being an equal challenge.

One of the Ravenclaws stepped forward, a tall guy with black hair, so he was more in line with the Gryffindor, "My aunt was tortured by Death Eaters for hiding some Muggleborn children in her home. That was six months ago, she's still in St. Mungo's."

The third stepped forward, a girl with strawberry blonde hair who only reached up to the shoulders of the other two teenagers. "My little sister was murdered. Just the wrong place at the wrong time. She was eight years old."

Draco found his courage and stopped trying to hide in the shadows; apparently tonight would be a night for apologies. "I'm sorry, about your aunt, you sister, and the children. I never wanted to be a part of that. I'm not going to try and make myself into a victim; there's nothing I can say to make up for the things I did. All I can say is I wish that I had acted differently. If I could re-do the last year and a half, believe me, I would make the right choices this time."

He turned his back, wand still in his pocket, opening himself up from any jinxes from the other three, and continued to walk towards the dungeons. He was far enough away that he didn't hear what Luna said to the small group, but did noticed when she caught up with him again and took his arm.

"Are you sure the Baron will be down here?"

"Positive."

The pair walked in silence for a few minutes before Draco worked out what it was about her appearance that was even more odd than usual.

"Luna, why do your shoes not match?"

"Oh, I haven't got any pairs left. I think the Nargles are stealing my things again. This happens every year; my earrings and necklace ward them off but I think they're starting to become impervious."

Draco wondered if he should ask the obvious question or not. Well so much of his evening he veered of what he had been expecting. "What's a Nargle?"

"It's a type of magical creature. They live in mistletoe and steal things. They end up turning up in the oddest of places; once I found one of my jackets in the Owlery. Not many people believe in them though, like Wrackspurts and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. Once I leave school I'm going to be a Magizoologist, and prove that they exist."

The conversation continued like this; Luna making an odd comment and then spending five minutes explaining herself until Luna stopped at the Slytherin common room.

"Thank you for walking me down; I doubt I'll get lost, the Baron will be able to show me back."

"Your welcome. I hope your love story works out well. How did you know where- actually never mind. Good luck," Draco paused for a moment. Well he'd apologised twice and spent fifteen minutes listening about creatures that probably didn't exist. "Thank you for defending me. Not many would. I wouldn't have; I deserve a lot more than a jinx for what I've done."

Luna gave him a sad smile and nodded to him; she knew he wasn't really grateful, it was, for once, painted all over his face. The torches flickered out and he heard Luna's footsteps walking away, leaving him standing alone in the dark.

Harry and Draco walked down the bustling corridor towards Defence Against the Dark Arts while Draco complained at Pansy's un-ending luck at avoiding trouble when it came to homework. The hallway was packed with students walking to class and for once nobody seemed to be paying them any special attention; for the first month and half of school they had drawn a lot of stares, originally for being 'The Saviour' and a known ex-Death Eater, and then for their friendship, which had probably thrown most of the schools inhabitants after six years of their near-constant fighting.

"I still cannot believe she managed to get away with it!" he ranted, "All the teachers fall for her cute-and-innocent act. In second year she actually managed to get Professor Lockhart to believe she couldn't hand in her essay because it had been 'eaten by the Giant Squid'. If it wasn't so Slytherin of her I would be absolutely disgusted; as it is you actually have to be quite impressed."

"Lockhart wasn't exactly the brightest was he? Hermione tricked him into giving us permission to go into the Restricted section to find extra information for our 'homework'. That does seem especially stupid though."

"Not Pansy best excuse, no. I swear she spends more time thinking up lies for why she hasn't done her homework than actually doing it. One time she-"

A sharp bolt of red light hit Draco of the back of the head silencing him, quickly followed by the yellow flash of a Knockback Jinx in between his shoulder blades. He fell roughly into a group of first year Hufflepuffs, sending them scattering, their high-pitched squeals cutting over the chattering and laughter of the other students.

"Draco, are you okay?" Harry darted forward, too late to really catch him.

Draco opened his mouth to reply but found himself unable; his tongue had been glued to the roof of his mouth.  _Bloody Langlock jinx._  He took Harry's hand, climbing back to his feet.

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry gave Draco a quick once-over finding only a few superficial cuts, the worst where a few drops of blood were pooling on his hands from where the re-opened scrapes he had from the day before. Draco had refused to explain them, but Harry thought he could rather accurately guess the source of them now.

He spun around, facing where the jinxes had come from, though it did him little good. A few students had paused as Draco fell, a few smirking when they saw the cuts, but a majority had continued on, stepping past the fallen Slytherin. The corridor was jammed from wall to wall with a swirling mass of people, Harry and Draco two small unmoving islands left unnoticed.

"Who was that?" he shouted to the crowd in general, "Who jinxed him?" His reply was a few odd stares, obviously saying 'Why would we care?' but most just flat-out ignored him. "Cowards, if you've got something to say, say it to his face, don't jinx him then hide behind others."

With that he turned back to Draco intending to remove the Langlock, but instead was greeted by an empty space, swiftly being filled with people hurrying to class. A few feet away he saw a blond head disappearing around the corner.

Harry pushed open the heavy wooden door to the empty classroom he had seen Draco run into.

Bright mid-day sunlight spilled through a lone window, illuminating the flecks of dust that floated through the air and coated most of the furniture. Draco stood in the middle of the room, his back to Harry, the light glinting off his hair, and was fruitlessly waving his wand near his head.

Harry walked forward silently so he faced him and raised his wand a muttered the counter-charm.

"Why did you run?" he asked, looking Draco in the eye, which, to his surprise, narrowed.

"I don't need to see who attacked me to know why, and I don't want you to defend me. Luna already did it yesterday and I didn't deserve it then either. And I don't need your righteous anger."

"What do you mean yesterday?"

Draco turned his back to Harry, literally giving him the cold shoulder. "Nothing, it's not important."

He caught the Slytherin's arm, spinning him back round to face him. "You mentioned it, it must be important."

Draco's jaw clenched obviously unwilling to speak.

"Draco," he said beseechingly, "please? I care about you and you're making me worried."

The blond sighed. "Three students yesterday. One of them jinxed me- just a trip jinx. Anyway Luna stood up for me, asked them what I ever did to them." He let out a cold laugh that scared Harry much more than the self-loathing expression he was wearing. "One of their aunt's was tortured and is still in St. Mungo's six months later. Another's little sister was killed. It doesn't matter that it wasn't me who did it to  _them_  I still did it. I tortured people, I watched as others were murdered. The best you can say is that I didn't personally kill anyone, but I sure as hell didn't do anything to save them either. The only,  _only_ , good thing I did in the last eighteen months was to not turn you in, and that hardly helped; you were still locked up."

Harry reached out for his shoulder to comfort him, but stopped the gesture when Draco flinched away from the touch. "It wasn't your fault. If you'd done anything differently they would have killed you and your family. It wasn't your fault."

"And you and everyone else that fought didn't take that risk? The only person responsible for my actions is me, and me alone. I should have been left in Azkaban to rot with the rest of the 'Death Eater scum'. You don't need to save everyone Harry. Sometimes people don't deserve saving."

Draco stepped away and went to the door. He paused his hand on the door handle, turning his head a fraction towards him. "I'll see you later." And with that he was gone, leaving Harry standing in the middle of the empty abandoned classroom.

 


	10. Newspapers and Whispers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's hear it for the really imaginative chapter names?

HPDM Hermione's PoV HPDM

The Great Hall was filled with murmurs, some shocked, some angry, as students pointed out pieces of the article to their neighbours. A few were still staring at the double doors where they had just seen Draco Malfoy chase after Harry.

Hermione frowned worriedly at the door, which had just swung shut, with half a mind to go after her best friend. Before she was even part way out her chair Ron's hand was on her arm.

"Leave them. They need to sort this out themselves. It had to come out eventually."

"I know, but like this?"

HPDM Harry's PoV – The Start of Breakfast HPDM

Harry sat toying with his breakfast. It had been a day and half since his and Draco's not-quite-a-fight and things were still not one hundred percent with them. They had barley spoken apart from the ten minutes during their previous lunch break, about the Transfiguration homework.

Hermione was persisting in trying to get him to actually eat something, nudging him every so often and giving him The Look.

"'Mione, just leave him be," Ron cut in after almost fifteen minutes of this charade, "he obviously doesn't want anything, just drop it."

Harry let their voices wash over him as they began bickering, pushing his food around with his fork. He lifted his head out of his hand, which he had been leaning on, as owls coasted into the room. Quickly the four house tables were littered with birds of varying sizes and colours, each being greeted by their respective owner. He stroked a tawny owl absent-mindedly as he picked up his copy of  _The Quibbler_ ; after all the lies printed about him and their reporters practically stalking him after the battle Harry now refused point blank to buy  _The Prophet_.

He was scanning an article on  _Aquavirius Maggots_ when Hermione began nudging him again.

"Hermione, I'm not hungry, can you please leave it?"

"It's not that. You really need to see this."

He blinked as a copy of  _The Prophet_  was shoved under his nose and watched the front pages shift and fold until the article the girl was talking about appeared. All the blood very quickly drained out of his face.

He didn't even give the front page a second glance before he was on his feet. His eyes connected with Draco's for a second and then he was running.

HPDM Draco's Pov – The Start of Breakfast HPDM

Draco listened with half an ear as Blaise read Pansy's Charms essay over her shoulder, correcting it as she went. His annoyance at Harry had burned out extremely quickly and he had spent the subsequent day trying to swallow his pride and apologize for over-reacting. It wasn't going well. He was a Malfoy; Malfoys don't apologize, simple as that. Except this time he had been in the wrong; part of the role of being someone's boyfriend was sticking up for them; hell that was the role of friend even and if he wanted to continue to call Harry that he was going to have to apologize.

The arrival of the mail broke his chain of thought and a large eagle owl landed on the table in front of him. It managed to strategically place itself between a jug of pumpkin juice and a toast rack without upsetting anything- unlike some owls he could mention, Draco thought, as he noticed a group of first years being soaked with milk.

With a start Draco recognized the handwriting on the envelope. This was it; the letter he had been waiting for, for a week. Taking a few seconds more than normal due to his shaking hands he carefully removed the letter off the owl's leg, which then swiftly flew away. He slit the dark green wax seal open with his thumb slipping the parchment out, and letting the envelope fall to the table. His eyes skimmed over his mother's words, in too much shock to read it properly. Certain phrases jumped out at him from the page; ' _shocked'_ , ' _over-reacted'_ ,  _'come to terms with'_ , ' _more time'_ ,  _'apologise'_ , and then at the bottom, above her curly signature  _'with love'_. His heart rate began to slow back to its normal pace and he carefully folded the letter, placing it in his robe's pocket.

Looking up at his friends worried gazes he smiled, "It's ok. Everything's going to be ok."

"I wouldn't speak too soon Draco," Blaise said, sliding the newspaper across the table to him. Splashed across the front page was a photo from the previous weekend of him and Harry holding hands in front of the Shrieking Shack.

"Crap."

He snapped his head up and locked eyes with Harry, through the hundreds of students in the hall and saw the shock in them, probably mirrored his own. The look lasted only a second and then Harry was gone, disappearing out of the hall. It took even less time for Draco to decide to chase after him, and he was gone to The Prophet still held tightly in his hand.

HPDM PoV HPDM

He grinned down at the slice of toast he was buttering as everyone around him gossiped about the article. If the pair's reactions were anything to go by he wouldn't have to wait much longer. Sometimes you really had to  _love_  the public media.

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry leant against a wall in a small alcove trying to catch his breath; after the first two staircases and four corridors everything had begun to blur together. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands; this wasn't how it was supposed to go; they had had a  _plan_ , he was meant to have  _more time_! He was going to tell  _who_  he wanted,  _when_ he wanted,  _where_  he wanted. But no, bloody Rita Skeeter had taken that all away from him, taken away his control of his own life! He didn't want to face this yet; he wasn't _ready_  to face it.

He was just starting to come out of the lime light slightly; he wasn't stupid he knew people would never completely forget about him but he hadn't been on the front page at all in the last two weeks. Things were beginning to return to something close to resembling normal. And now people would staring, whispering, and gossiping, and this would draw so much attention to Draco, and probably his friends too- he had resigned of the Quidditch team so people wouldn't notice him and now he was on the front page of the _Daily Prophet_!

Harry's eyes flew open as he heard running footsteps but he relaxed as he recognised the shock of blond hair fast approaching. The Slytherin leant against the opposite wall of the alcove, trying to catch his breath.

"How the hell… did you get so fast?" he panted out, once he could speak again; running across half the castle was not his favourite activity to do first thing in the morning.

"Lots of practice; my cousin's favourite game when we were little was 'Harry Hunting'," he replied, in a bitter tone.

"Ok, I am going to come back to that," Draco made a circling gesture at Harry, managing to encompass his last sentence, tone and all, "later, but first, are you ok?"

He gave him a look which quite clearly said 'I just ran out of the Great Hall mid-breakfast, sprinted across half the castle and you found me close to tears. Which part of that is ok?'"

Harry was shot back a look in return which was just as easy to read, if a lot more succinct; 'Shut up, you know what I meant.'

He lent his head back against the stone wall, running his hand through his already-messy hair. "I feel a bit stupid actually. After all that stuff I said the other day about not caring if anyone found out, and now I react like this."

"Harry, last week we were talking about a couple of people starting an easily-deniable rumour, not a front page story with photographic proof that the whole English speaking Wizarding world has probably seen. You're allowed to panic a bit."

"You're not," Harry quipped back, sounding slightly accusatory.

"Everyone already thinks I'm shit, I can't really sink much lower in their eyes. Also I got a letter from mother this morning," a self-conscious grin started to sneak across his face, "You were right; she was just surprised. She needs a bit more time to get used to it but she'll be fine. I couldn't care less what father thinks and I'd like to see what he can do from Azkaban." He paused for a moment, "Actually I don't think I would but the point is I don't care. All my friends already knew which way I swang, and hey; I managed to snag Harry Potter."

"But won't this cause trouble for you? All that stuff about keeping your head down, not drawing attention to yourselves, being inconspicuous? I don't think a front page article really fits onto that category."

"No, it doesn't," Draco conceded, "but it does mean I can hold your hand in the corridor," he reached across the small gap to do just that, "and I can call you my boyfriend and we can act like an actual couple."

Harry smiled to himself. When it was put like that it did sound rather appealing. Then the smile vanished. "Bloody hell, I just realised; this is how the Weasley's are going to find out I've got a  _boyfriend_."

"You hadn't told them?"

"You said yourself it's not the sort of thing you can put in a letter. Oh Merlin, Mrs Weasley is going to be  _crushed_. She was sort-of rooting for me and Ginny to get married eventually. She's been trying to force us back together for the last month."

"Oh come on, surely it won't be that bad? They're like your family, it might take a while but they'll be fine with it."

Harry nodded slowly. "Okay, I think I can take it now," he gestured to the crumpled newspaper in Draco's hand, "Let's see the article then. How bad can it be?"

"Don't say  _that_. You realise it's about ten times worse than it originally was now you've said that?" the Slytherin laughed.

Paper rustled as Draco made a vague attempt at flattening out the paper, which had been crushed in his hand since leaving the hall. Holding it between them they poured over the text, reading the words faster and their skin getting paler the more they took in. By the time they reached the end of the article they were both white as a sheet.

"Shit."

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Rita hadn't lost her flair for sensationalist writing, that was for sure. Any acceptance they could have garnered after the article had been completely blow out of the water by the number of ridiculous accusations and, as gossip goes, what had been put in the story had already been greatly exaggerated. What had started as a suggestion of trickery had escalated to love potions in a matter of hours and by the second day Draco was almost positive he had heard someone mention some sort of mind control. Depending on how you viewed it, the situation was either a rather impressive display of the Hogwarts grape vine or a great example of how normally quite intelligent people manage to lose about twenty IQ points when in a large group; the same people hailing Harry as their Savior just days previously were now swearing blind that they had seen him use dark magic.

The only good thing about the article was that their not-exactly-a-fight had ended; Draco highly doubted he could have gone through the pressure the article had created alone. He and Harry gripped each other's hands tightly as they walked down the corridor, pretending they couldn't hear the insults being thrown at them. It was rather amazing how shallow people could be; less than half a week ago these idiots had practically been worshipping the ground Harry walked on, now he was fair game, to be poked and prodded at like some animal in a zoo.

They walked through a large group of students, almost all of them staring at the couple, some merely curious, others out-right judging. Draco was watching Harry out of the corner of his eye, and saw his brow furrowed, eyes beginning to darken in annoyance as vicious whispers flew around them like wasps, just on the edge of hearing. He gave his boyfriends hand a reassuring squeeze; he knew how much the Gryffindor hated being the spotlight and could tell how much effort it was taking him not to snap.

Milliseconds after doing so one of the spectator's whispers ceased being so quiet. Before Draco could so much as blink Harry had spun towards them so they stood only two feet apart, and had his wand pointed at his chest.

"Draco?" Harry spoke normally, as if they were just continuing a conversation, though he didn't break eye contact with the Slytherin. Everyone in the corridor had frozen. "I know you said you didn't want people to stick up for you but this is completely different. Exception from the rule?"

He understood what he meant about a different situation – previously they had been going off at him for being a Death Eater, which he knew he completely deserved, no matter what anyone said. Now it was just because he was dating a guy, which was just stupid. "As much as I would appreciate that, Harry, I don't think now is the time," he replied, after pondering the question for a brief moment and then gently tugged on his hand, which had not been dropped throughout the whole encounter.

Once they were out earshot Harry turned to Draco. "Why wouldn't you let me hex him? You can't just expect me to let him get away with calling you - us – que-."

"I heard what he said, thanks, you don't need to repeat it. Three reasons," the blond lifted his free hand, counting off the reasons, "One, we were in the middle of a corridor where a teacher was extremely likely to catch you; I don't want you getting into easily-avoidable trouble. Also there were a lot of eyewitnesses. Two, he had friends with him, and I didn't fancy getting into a fight with  _four_  other students. And three," he smirked, "now he's going to spend all his time worrying about what we'll do and we have time to plan, get him when he's alone so there's no proof. Merlin we wouldn't even have to do anything, he could probably worry himself sick in two weeks; I know Slytherins, we're extremely suspicious."

Harry stared at the boy next to him, his expression verging on awe. "I don't know whether I should be really worried or really impressed," he said shaking his head with a grin.

 


	11. Arguments

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

"Okay, so then I flick my wrist like this-"

"No, no, no, Harry," said Hermione, grabbing his forearm stopping him accidentally turned the group of fourth years playing exploding snap across the common room purple, who gave the group of eight years a dark look. "After the swish, you twist your hand like this," she continued, demonstrating the spell for the fourth time in the last ten minutes.

The six of them - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Pluto - who was slowly becoming accepted into the group as he was in Ginny's Defence and Potions class and there may or may not be something going on between them – were sat in their common room attempting to complete their homework. Much to the group's annoyance it was late Saturday evening, but the work had to be finished before the next week's mountain of work began to grow again. Apparently helping to save the world from a crazed power obsessed maniac didn't get you enough brownie points to hand in essays late. It was even more heavy-going that night as Harry seemed to be unable to retain anything Hermione told him about their new Transfiguration work for more than five seconds.

"Are you alright mate?" Ron asked- apparently Harry wasn't the only one to notice his own lack of concentration.

"Yeah, no, it's just," the group quietened slightly to listen to the trio's conversation, concerned about their friend, "I mean I knew it would take longer than this to blow over, but I just thought -" he hesitated again.

"You thought that they wouldn't have taken it so badly," finished Neville as they all stopped pretending to work.

"It's all that Skeeter woman's fault!" exclaimed Ginny indignantly, "If she hadn't written that story – or even gotten a real interview from one of you – it wouldn't have been half as bad."

"How did she write it though?" Ron wondered, turning to Hermione, "Weren't you, well, y'know?"

"Blackmailing her? Yes. But it turns out she's been a rather busy bug in the last three years. I checked up on her after the article came out; she's been through the whole registration process. Rita Skeeter is now a 100% fully registered completely legal animagus," she finished glumly.

"You could maybe get them to print a retraction? Like, a full apology?" suggested Pluto.

"You know what rumours are like, though – it's too late now," countered Neville.

"Nothing'll stop people gossiping and taking it back now will just add fuel to the fire," agreed Ginny, "Good idea though," she said to Pluto, who smiled sadly.

The group continued to work in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, until interrupted by Hermione after just a few minutes.

"There's one thing about this in particular that I don't like; who took the photo?" Everyone looked up at her. "Well someone would have noticed if an actual photographer was following them around the village, wouldn't they. And anyway, they weren't credited in the article, which means someone must have sent it in anonymously."

"It must have been a student- did you see anyone near you? When you were near the Shack I mean?" asked Pluto, not being perturbed by his last idea being shot down.

Harry shook his heads after a moment, "No one; that was sort of the point of going there."

"Heard them maybe?" cut in Neville, "Disillusionment charms aren't too tricky."

"Why would someone follow me though?"

The group raise their eyebrows.

"Right, stupid question."

"Mate," stated Ron, "I wouldn't have been surprised if you had a stalker  _before_  the war, never mind  _now_."

Harry looked down at his hands, becoming uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had taken, ignoring the five still staring at him.

"Well I didn't hear anyone either, but I'll ask Draco later just to make sure, ok?" he said in a tone that made it clear their little chat was over.

Later that evening found Harry in the silent dormitory, curled up on the windowsill looking out over the lake, while his friends chatted in the common room below. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Ron enter the room until he saw his reflection superimposed over the view, standing behind his shoulder.

"You never really answered my question."

Harry turned away from the reflection and towards his friend. "Sure I did; I told you, I thought that the article-"

"Would have blown over, I know, and we both know that's not true. Harry, this is hardly the first time you've been stuck in the middle of some rumour hurricane. I mean how long did that story about you and Hermione in fourth year run for? And that was just a hug and some guess work- this time with you and Draco it's actually true. So- what's wrong, really?"

Harry sighed and looked away, staring at the space just over Ron's shoulder. "In a way I suppose it is the article. Or the fallout from it rather. There's just so much pressure on us; everyone is watching us, every single move we make. It's like," he paused, grappling for the right way to describe how the school was destroying their lives, "it's like we never have any  _time_. We're back to hiding in secret corridors just so we can have a conversation with out twenty other people listening in, trying to find hidden meanings in every other word, or  _clues_  or something about us." He sighed again and lifted his head, looking Ron in the eyes for the first time in their conversation, "And it's tearing us apart. There's just too much pressure and don't know how much longer we can take it before one of us cracks."

He turned back to the window. They both knew there was no way Ron could help. Harry knew he was a good friend and would stand by him, but sometimes that just wasn't enough. They say that a problem shared is a problem halved, but right now it just seemed to have doubled.

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco, Blaise and Pansy were gathered around a table near the back of the library. None of them were working; up until twenty minutes previously the trio had been attempting to sit and chat in their common room whilst trying to ignore all the dark looks that had been sent their way. After half an hour of hushed talk the tension in the room had reached breaking point and a seventh year near them had snapped. Apparently by dating another guy Draco was showing that he didn't care about his family's bloodline. Apparently this made him a blood-traitor. Apparently he didn't 'deserve' to be in their common room. This had ended with Draco having to hold up a shield charm as the guy and his friends tried to hex them all into next week while Blaise dragged Pansy out of the common – the girl had always had a short temper, especially when it came to her friends, and having words like 'blood-traitor' thrown around did not help the situation one iota.

"I can't believe we're hiding in the library!" Pansy fumed while Blaise put up some basic shield and silencing wards – you never knew how many idiots there were in the school that may like to re-enact the scene in the dungeons with them.

"Well if you'd just ignored them like I was trying to do then maybe we wouldn't be!" snapped back Draco. This was not the first time someone had picked an argument with him in the last week since that bloody article. He had quickly found that giving them the cold shoulder was the best course of action- it was no fun yelling at someone who doesn't react.

"Well  _I'm sorry_  for trying to defend my best friend from those narrow minded pricks!" she all-but-yelled back at him.

"Guys, guys, come on. Let's not fight; half the school is already out for our blood, we can't add each other to that list!" Blaise cut in, trying to nip the argument in the bud.

"Well they wouldn't be if  _someone_  hadn't gone off with the most famous person in the entire school!" Pansy fumed, "Things were  _fine_  before this Draco. Maybe not perfect, but if we just kept our heads down and got on with our lives then no-one would bother us, but now we can't go ten feet without someone yelling insults or trying to hex us!"

"Look, it's not my fault that stupid article came out!" Draco yelled back.

"If you hadn't gotten together with Potter in the first place there wouldn't have been anything to write that damned story about!" she shrieked back.

Draco stood up so fast the chair he had been sitting on fell to the floor with a loud clatter. "You know what Parkinson? I have had it up to here with people yelling abuse at me just because I have a boyfriend, I sure as hell don't have to sit a listen to from my friends too!"

Draco stormed down a deserted corridor, picking left and right turn at random, loosing himself in the school. Blindly taking another corner he ran into someone else; a tired-looking someone with black hair and a Gryffindor tie.

"Draco? What are you doing here?"

"Could ask you the same thing," he replied shortly to his boyfriend. The argument with Pansy still ringing in his ears and he was not yet anywhere near calm enough to have anything that even resembled a civilized conversation.

"Are you alright?" he asked laying a comforting hand on the blond's shoulder, confused by the his standoff-ish reply, "Nobody tried to hurt you or anything did they?"

Draco shook off the hand. He didn't need comfort; that would only serve to make him look even weaker. "Nothing I can't handle," he replied coldly.

Harry frowned, "You know I said if anyone did then I-"

"Yes, and I told you I don't need someone fighting my battles. I can look after myself," he hissed back.

"What, so when I'm upset your allowed to comfort me, but it doesn't work the other way round? You don't need to do this by yourself, that's the point of a relationship; we look out for each other."

"I already said I don't need your hero complex. At least half the stuff they say is because of the war, and Merlin knows I deserve that. After everything I did in the last year it should probably be ten times worse than that."

"Draco-" Harry tried to put his hand on his arm which only resulted in it being shrugged off again and Draco stepping further away.

"No! Just don't, ok? Don't try and wrap it up in cotton wool and pretend it never happened. People  _died_  because of some of the shit I did," Draco's voice had dropped to almost a whisper and he was blinking desperately to stop the tears welling up in his eyes from falling. "They died and they're never coming back, no matter what I do, so do not even think about saying things'll be  _ok_." Draco's voice rose as he unleashed the emotion that he trapped inside himself for the year, "And everyone,  _every single day_ , is there reminding me of it, screaming about in front of the whole school, and I can't get away. No matter how much good I try and do to make up for it, it won't make any difference- it won't bring back their friends or their family. And then for once in my life it actually looks like there's a chance I could be  _happy_? After everything I've  _done_? But then they find out about that too and there are just so many people everywhere and there's just no space. And it's like I can't  _breathe_  anymore and there's nowhere left to hide." By the end of his speech Draco was panting for breath as the tears that had managed to escape ran in rivulets down his cheeks. As he got louder he had stepped further and further away from Harry, who was becoming increasingly upset, until they feet away from each other instead of mere inches.

Draco turned and he ran.

He ran away from the accusations, and the yelling and the abuse of the last week. He ran from his friend's judgments and condemnations. He ran from his guilt of how many people he had hurt in the last year. He ran away from the only person who could help because he sure as hell didn't deserve that.

He ran until he didn't know where he was, until he had a stitch stabbing into his side, until his heart felt like it was about to jump right out of his chest, until his legs felt like they were about to give way beneath him, until each breath made his lungs feel like they were being filled with ice.

He collapsed onto a stonewall beside him and slid down until he was curled up on the ground, wrapping his arms around himself to stop him from falling apart at the seams.

He didn't know how long he sat there as the icy chill of the air crept into his bones until he heard the footsteps. They started off slow, like their owner was looking for something before breaking into a run.

"Draco?"

He looked up, expecting to see Harry. Instead he saw that kid from the try-outs, the one who'd been hanging out with Harry and his friends.  _Pluto_  – that was it. Pretty stupid name, but he could hardly talk. When he came to think about it he'd barley seen the kid around before this year. Oh sure, he'd passed him in the corridor and seen him talking to the She-Weasel a couple of times, but until this year he didn't think Harry and his friends were so much as aware of his existence, never mind on first name terms.

"What d'you want?" he asked. He was curled up in the dark, in an abandoned corridor with red-rimmed eyes; he could afford to lose his eloquence for a while.

"Harry's been looking everywhere for you – he's completely frantic! Said he really needs to talk to you. I think he's searching outside, you coming?" without waiting for a reply the brunette hoped back up onto his feet and stuck his hand out for Draco.

The two made their way to the entrance hall– thankfully Pluto knew where they were – until they reached the double doors.

"He should be around somewhere, come on," said Pluto cheerily, pulling the blond along until Draco managed to pull his hand out of the younger boy's grasp with sigh of annoyance, following him outside.

As they left the building the doors swung shut behind them, leaving them in almost complete darkness. Draco fished out his wand casting a quick 'Lumos' so he could see around them.

"Where is he then?" he asked, turning back to Pluto who had was standing behind him, and froze.

The easy grin the younger boy had been replaced with a smirk, and the dancing light in his eyes with a hard glint. He was pointing his wand straight in Draco's face. Some level of comprehension dawned on him; Draco turned his wand on the other boy; too late as a flash of red light from Pluto's wand caused him to collapse, unconscious.

"Oh Harry is looking for you, just inside," he smirked down at the boy, "And he will be for a lot longer if I have anything to do with it."

 


	12. Missing

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

It had been almost a whole twenty four hours since Harry had last seen Draco and they, well Harry wasn't even sure if what had happened the previous night could be classed as a fight. That in its self wasn't unexpected, the two of them had very strong opinions and it was easy to get the other riled up; sometimes they just needed time to cool off before either of them said something they couldn't take back. What was odd was that Draco hadn't been to classes. Or to meals. Or had been seen by anyone since their… dispute. Skipping meals and avoiding people Harry could understand; it wasn't like he'd never done both of those things himself. What was odd was the missed lessons; the only other person he knew as obsessed with note taking and homework was Hermione. It also went directly against the older Slytherin's new, most important rule: Never Be Noticed. They had re-sculpted their entire lives around this one rule and now Draco was throwing caution to the wind and might as well be standing in the middle of the great hall screaming for attention. Something was wrong.

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco knelt shivering on the cold stone floor. Somewhere between being knocked out in the school grounds and waking up, in what he presumed was some sort of cell, his robes had been taken, leaving him in his thin school shirt and trousers and dampness from the room had begun seeping into his clothes. He had been blindfolded, his wrists had been handcuffed behind his back and in one failed attempt at standing he had decided his left leg was, at the very least strained, if not broken. To top it all off his wand had been taken. Draco slumped on the ground; he didn't see how this situation could get much worse.

The metal screeching noise of an old lock being opened grated through the air and hinges creaked as a door opened and then slammed shut. Apparently he was wrong; it could get worse. Heavy footsteps began to echo throughout the cell as the visitor circled his prey.

"Well, well, well; little Draco Malfoy, the Chosen One's new play thing. You know by all rights you should be serving your time in Azkaban with the rest of us."

Draco felt hot breath on his cheek as the stranger leaned in close and started to edge away. Until he felt a sharp metal blade tracing his jaw line, that was.

"After all those people you sold out what right do you to be able to walk in the sunlight? It's a shame the kid wants you to live; it's the bloody Boy Who Lived that he's after – doesn't want any other casualties. Wanna know something kid?"

Draco let out a small yelp as a hand grabbed his hair, yanking his head back to expose his neck, cringing as a the man's tongue dragged across his collar bone and up to his neck before he whispered in his ear, "I know a lot of ways of keeping someone alive. I could drag this out for  _weeks_."

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry slumped into a red and gold sofa in the middle of the common room, right in front of the roaring fire. The flickering flames were the only source of light in the room, casting long shadows up the walls, falling out the windows into the moonless night outside. It had been one of the longest days of his life, which, considering everything, was saying something. In between every lesson Harry had been ducking into corners and alcoves to check the Marauder's Map, going as far as getting some rather pointed elbows from Hermione for doing so  _in_  class as well.

Before dinner he had sought out Blaise and Pansy, neither of whom had seen him either, though had a reported a few incidents between them and some of the other Slytherins the previous few days. He had been even more on edge than the previous night, unable to find neither hide nor hair of his boyfriend; even the infamous Hogwarts' rumour mill was turning up a blank. The result had been hours of aimless wandering throughout the halls, muscle memory guiding him through the corridors, as his mind supplied ever-worsening scenarios. By two am he had come full circle, reaching the entrance to the common room and having to wake the Fat Lady so he could clamber in.

He sighed and rolled his head away from the fire to watch the stars twinkling in the dark. A flash of white, reflected in the window, caught his attention and he swung back round to face the fire just in time to see the flames change back from a florescent green to their natural orange and to be hit in the face by a piece of parchment.

In small scratchy writing the name 'Potter' was written on it. Harry unfolded the parchment to read the short missive inside.

_I believe we have something you are missing._

The world froze. Clocks stopped ticking, the fire stopped flickering, Harry stopped breathing. Draco wasn't missing; he'd been kidnapped.

Harry almost fell over himself in his haste to get to the staircase. He muttered the password to let him to the girls' dorms that Hermione had told him herself what felt like eons ago, but was in reality only a few months.

He span around the spiral staircase until he reached the landing, searching out the correct bedroom. He swung open the door to the Eight Year girls' room, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. He crept into the darkened room, deep breathing the only sound available. It was much like the boys' dormitory, up to and including the drapes around each bed. Harry peered at the outlined shapes next to the beds; makeup, clothes, magazines, books – perfect. He peaked around the corner of the curtain to see a sleeping Hermione, frizzy hair splayed across the pillow.

"Hermione," he whispered, shaking her awake. "Hermione, wake up."

"Harry?" she blinked blearily at him. "It's the middle of the night, why are you up? Why are you in  _here_?" she asked in confusion.

"I just got a note through the Floo. I don't know who from or anything, but look," he shoved the short letter under his friend's nose.

Hermione leant back slightly, her eyes adjusting to the light and read it quickly.

"Have you shown Ron yet?"

"Not yet, I thought you should see it first."

"Okay, go get him and I'll see you in the common room in five minutes," she whispered to him.

"Look," Hermione said to the two boys gathered next to her, "See how the writing is shimmering slightly? Get me a beaker or something would you?"

Harry pulled out his wand, conjuring a small beaker, which Ron caught. He held it steady as Hermione used her wand to pull a long silver strand out of the parchment, depositing it in the glass container.

"Someone placed a memory in their message. This is really advanced magic; it must be important."

"Great, now all we need is a pensive. You wouldn't happen to have one on you, would you Harry?" Ron quipped.

"No, but I know where two are. I highly doubt we can break into the Headmistress' office, but Snape used to have one as well. It should still be in his office," Harry replied.

"You mean the office which is password locked?"

Lucky thing we know a few Slytherins then, isn't it?"

HPDM Blaise's PoV HPDM

Blaise's eyes flashed open. There were voices. It was the middle of the bloody night, why the hell were there voices? He peaked around the corner of his hangings to see three very out-of-place Gryffindors standing in the middle of the dorm room. He slid the swung the curtains back fully, causing them all to jump.

"You do realise what time it is, don't you? How did you even get in here? Actually wait, it's three in the morning, I don't want know. Just, get the fuck out."

"Blaise, we need your help."

"And I need my sleep Potter, make it quick."

"We got a message about Draco. Someone's kidnapped him. They put a memory in the note, so we need to break into Snape's old office to use the pensive. We thought you would know the password. Just tell us and we'll be out of your hair."

"What the hell are you on Potter? You tell me my best friend's been kidnapped and you think I'm  _going back to sleep_? You've got another thing coming. I'm going with you. Give me five minutes to get Pansy and I'll meet you downstairs."

"Zabini," Ron called back as they reached the door, "You might want to try clothes too," he gestured to the boy's boxer-clad body, "That could be slightly awkward to explain."

The five students stood opposite an apparently ordinary wooden door, not too far from the Slytherin common room.

"Are you sure this is it?" asked Ron, "It just seems too normal for Snape's office."

"What were you expecting? Snakes and hidden traps?" asked Pansy sarcastically.

"Well, no but-"

"Guys, can we just-," Harry gestured towards the door.

"Right sorry mate."

Blaise stepped towards the door, placing his hand on the wood and murmuring something under his breath. There was a tingle of magic and the sound of metal grating on stone before the lock clicked. He nudged the door slightly and it swung open slightly on silent hinges.

Blaise waved his arm in the direction of the doorway. "Ladies first."

Pansy and Hermione crept through silently, wands held tightly in their hands. The boys followed quickly behind them and Ron pulled his deluminator out his pocket, letting three balls of light escape, flooding the room with light.

Harry nodded his thanks, ignoring the puzzled looks from the two Slytherins and found the shelf where the pensive was kept. Levitating it off the shelf he set it down gently on a spare table.

"Hermione, how do I get the memory out?" Harry whispered to the girl.

She held her wand and dragged it across the paper in a similar to that of removing a memory from someone's mind. The silver thread clung to her wand as she brought it to the pensive, dropping in the misty liquid. The five gathered around the bowl.

"Everybody ready?" he checked.

The group nodded, and, as one, placed the tips of their wands to the surface causing them to be sucked into the memory.

They landed in the grounds of a once-fine manor. The immaculate gardens had become wild and over grown with weeds, paint flaked off of the frames of the large windows, the stone of the large house chipped and dull. The memory flickered like a camera panning in and they were drawn towards the open front door.

Inside the building was dark and the surfaces were covered in dust, days old footprints scattered down a long corridor towards the large oak doors of what would once have been the drawing room.

The group crept forward, leaving the dust in their wake undisturbed. They peered through the door as the passed, glimpsing arched windows concealed by dark curtains and a fireplace filled with burnt out embers. The memory flickered again and they were in front of a set of stairs. A torch flickered weakly at the bottom; the first sign of life they had seen so far.

Still worried about what they were going to see the five descended the stairs and followed the corridor around the corner. They had ended up in what must be some sort of basement. Moss grew in the corners of the stone corridor and cobwebs had been weaved in between the lattices of the small barred windows, which were cut into every door that lined the corridor.

Just as they were about to explore the corridors everything moved and they were in front of an open cell. There was a body collapsed in a heap, chained to one of the walls. Their skin was mottled with blue and purple bruises and encrusted with dried blood from the various cuts covering them, and one of their leg's stuck out at an odd angle. Dirt hid some of the pale blond hair and as the group step forward slightly he lifted his head and they were met with tired grey eyes.

It was Draco.


	13. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might like to know that there was a moment where I had considered calling this chapter something on the variation of ‘We’re getting the band back together’. I couldn’t manage to make it sound un-cheesy though. ☹

HPDM Harry’s PoV HPDM

 

“We need to go save him. That was just a memory – who knows what could’ve happened to him since!”

 

“Harry, nobody’s saying that we’re not going to save him, we’re saying that we’re not going to go running off into the English countryside right this very second,” Hermione tried to say placatingly.

 

“She’s right Potter; there could be any sorts of traps waiting for us. We need to plan,” added Blaise.

 

After the teenagers had been unceremoniously flung out of the pensive they had gathered in the room of requirements. Well, four of them had; Harry had been forcibly dragged there. The room was currently trying to appear as friendly and calming as possibly with a group of three leather sofas gathered around a roaring fire, but it was not helping. Pansy was the only one sat, curled up slightly on the corner of the sofa, as far from the heat as possible, while Ron leaned on the back of the opposite one, watching Harry with worry. Hermione and Blaise wore similar expressions, and were attempting to stand out of the way of Harry’s frantic pacing.

 

“How are we meant to plan anything though? We don’t even know where the bloody building it is, never mind who may or may not be hiding there.” Harry yelled with exasperation.

 

“I do.” Pansy said with a small voice.

 

Everyone turned to look at her.

 

“I do,” she repeated, her voice slightly stronger, “It’s the old Lowe family mansion. We used to visit when I was younger. The parents-”

 

“Erebus and Ananke Lowe, wasn’t it?” cut in Blaise, a look of understanding on his face.

 

“Yes, that’s them,” Pansy continued, “They were really believers of The Da- You-Know-Who,” she corrected herself. “They died during the second war. I think they had two sons who ended up living with some sort of distant relative.”

 

“That’s not what I heard,” Blaise interrupted, “Once when Mother had some friends over I heard them saying how it was such a shame for him to lose his entire family like – Mother, Father and younger brother all in the space of minutes. They said he wasn’t really the same after that.”

 

“That’s dreadful,” said Hermione, her vice full of concern for the unknown boy, “Who was it?”

 

“No idea; they never mentioned a name.”

 

“So we know where he is and have a better idea of what we’re up against,” concluded Harry, who was beginning to feel slightly less hopeless about the situation. “Now we just need a plan.”

 

Ron looked up from the patch of floorboard he had been watching intently during the discussion. “Hermione, you don’t still have any of those DA coins do you?”

 

*******

 

It took a few hours, what with it now being around 2am, but eventually they had a group gathered in the Room of Requirements. After Hermione had called a meeting the group had calmed down enough to sit on the comfy sofas, all be it rather stiffly; Harry’s knee was shaking with nerves. Slowly, as more people arrived more furniture had also appeared. As well as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Blaise and Pansy there was also now Ginny, Luna, Neville, Seamus and Dean - whom had been physically dragged out of bed when the coins heated up - Padma, Parvati, Hannah, Ernie and, much to Hermione’s distaste, Lavender. They had given the old DA an account of what they had witnessed in the pensive, and the room was now filled with a tense silence. It was a real testament to how far everyone had come in the last year that they hadn’t all left at the mention of Draco’s name.

 

“So is there any sort of plan yet?” asked Luna, “Any idea of what we should do?”

 

“Do we really have to do anything?” countered Ernie. At the shocked looks and death glares he was getting he continued hastily, “I’m not saying we should leave him to be tortured, I just meant is it out responsibility to save him?”

 

“It does sound an awful lot like a trap Harry,” added in Padma, “It seems to have been very well planned out, and only sending the note to you? It’s obvious you’re the one they really want.”

 

“But then why not just kidnap Harry in the first place? It makes no sense,” complained Dean.

 

“Actually it does,” Hermione explained to everyone, “First they’re probably more scared of Harry than they are of Draco given their reputations – the boy who managed to kill Voldemort, or the one who couldn’t kill Dumbledore, you see? And this way Harry will come to them willingly, placing them in the position of power. This way he’s less likely to try and escape as well.”

 

“Spend a lot of time planning kidnappings, do you Granger?” asked Pansy sarcastically.

 

“Guys, really not now, okay?” Harry broke up the potential argument, “can we just get something planned?” He paused for a moment and was about to speak again when Ron talked over him.

 

“He’s about to say something stupidly heroic and selfless,” he indicated Harry next to him, “But basically what it boils down to is that rescuing Draco is going to be bloody dangerous, it’s quite likely you’ll get hurt, but it won’t be a patch on the Battle of Hogwarts. Am I right?” The last part was directed towards Harry, who nodded mutely, “All right then, are we all in?”

 

There were mumblings of ascent from the group.

 

“I said, are we all in?” Ron repeated slightly louder, garnering a more enthusiastic response from the rest of the group. “Good.”

 

*******

 

An hour, numerous cups of coffee, and a lot of talking later and they had reached a dead end.

 

“It keeps coming back to the same points,” groaned Blaise, “We have no idea who we’re facing, how powerful they are or even how many are there. We could sit here talking for a week and not get any further. We know they want Harry, and where Draco is, end of.”

 

Seamus nodded in agreement with Blaise – something neither of them thought would ever happen, “I say we split into groups, do a mass side-along apparition to the manor and just flank them from all sides.”

 

“Perfect, apart from there only being fifteen of us, and only two have actually been there before,” griped Lavender.

 

 “Don’t be so negative,” argued Padma, “We can apparate there if we’ve seen it in the memory – we only have to be able to visualise it after all. Also, considering they’re escaped Death Eaters there’s unlikely to be that many of them. What would be good would be if we got a bit of sleep before we left – we can’t fight well if we’re already arguing amongst ourselves and can barley stand.”

 

The sentence was barley out of her mouth before beds started to appear around them, filling what little space was left in the room.

 

“Okay, you guys sleep for a bit, and once everyone’s awake we’ll take the nearest passage out of Hogwarts, apparate to the manor and save Draco. Simple. Simple’s good – there’s less that can go wrong.” Harry summed up.

 

With that the group slipped off to their chosen beds, most of them asleep before their heads hit the pillow.

 

Harry looked up to see Hermione still hovering next to him.

 

“I know your worried about him, but you need to sleep too Harry. Just think how much you’ll hate yourself if you or someone else gets hit because you were too tired to react quickly enough,” she said, trying to guilt him into going to bed.

 

“I know, Hermione, I know. I just- I can’t. There’s no way I’ll be able to sleep, and even if I did, I don’t want to face the nightmares.” Harry rubbed his hands tiredly over his face.

 

“Could you just try, please? For us? For Draco?”

 

The last part seemed to convince him as he gave a tired nod and collapse onto the nearest empty bed.

 

*******

 

There were four simultaneous cracks as the groups appeared next to each wing. If they hadn’t been sure it was a trap before they arrived the complete lack of wards keeping them out would have been the biggest give away. Neville, Seamus, Hannah and Parvati had apparated to the East Wing, by the front of the house, and had added slight glamours to themselves to confuse the kidnappers more. Ginny, Padma and Ernie had entered from the North Wing and Luna, Dean and Lavender, from the South to add to the chaos. Harry, Blaise, Pansy, Hermione and Ron were entering from the West by the gardens in the hope that the other three groups would be enough of a distraction. Just in case everyone’s pockets were filled with Decoy Detonators and Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder.

 

When they heard the yells and small explosions begin the five quietly entered through a large glass door into what was presumably some sort of lady’s sitting room. Everything was decorated a pale creams and light blues including the two smart chairs grouped around a small table. The room had a genteel air about it, which was almost enough to make the group feel guilty about any dirt they may be tramping through, despite the thick layer of dust over everything and the shrivelled pot plants surrounded by decomposing leaves. The door out the room into the main corridor was mercifully silent despite all the commotion they could hear echoing throughout the house.

 

“Ok Blaise, you’re up,” Pansy told her friend in a hushed voice. “Where to?”

 

Blaise inspected the corridor for a moment, taking in the empty paintings, dirty windows and scratched doors. “That way,” after a moment’s indecision he pointed right, “that should take us to the main entrance.”

 

They stuck close to the wall to avoid the worst of the creaking, rotted floorboards. They quickly reached what would once have been a grand archway, which opened near the end of the entrance hall. Protected by the shadows the five of them could easily see Neville, Seamus, Hannah and Parvati duelling six ex-Death Eaters. Brilliant flashes of light exploded off the walls as hastily flung spells from both sides missed their marks. All their friends seemed to have become injured in some way or another during the brief but brutal fight; Hannah had blood streaming down her right arm, which was throwing her aim off slightly, while Seamus had sprained his ankle if the way he bore his weight onto his right was anything to judge by. Despite this the teenagers were holding their own against the Death Eaters; even as they watched two fell, evening up the numbers. Using this as a distraction they slipped out the archway and hurried towards the small wooden door that would hopefully lead to the basement.

 

The staircase and following corridor were almost identical to that of the memory; the torches still flickered, moss was crawling up the wall and the spiders had continued their lives in between the metal bars of the cell door. The only noticeable difference was the dust, or rather, the lack of it. Where before a thin carpet of grey had covered the cold floor there were now only small wisps, the rest worn away and replaced by footprints.

 

Hermione stopped in front of them and pulled her wand in a downward motion. “Insidiis revelatum.”

 

They watched her as she stood silent and motionless for a second before she returned to them. “There’s some sort of motion sensor spell covering the entire corridor. If we trigger any of them it’ll send a signal directly to the castor as well as causing an explosions which will probably knock us out, if not kill us.”

 

Pansy stepped forward next her. “You work on the sensors, I’ll do the explosions,” and with that the two girls set to work disabling the enchantment.

 

It took a good fifteen minutes, but after what seemed like an age of the quiet murmuring of spells, with a backdrop of awkward shuffling, nervous looks and subtle attempts at checking the corridor to the main hall, the girls managed to disable the charms.

 

“Finally, I thought we’d be waiting here for years at the rate you were going,” a voice echoed through the corridor – they could just make out a dark silhouette past the door to Draco’s cell. The figure flicked their wand and, despite their struggles, all five of their wands were tugged from their hands, sailing across the corridor into the shadow’s outstretched palm.

 

“But really though,” the voice continued,  “Well done on getting this far, you all seem relatively unharmed. The guys were sceptical but I told them, I told them ‘That Hermione Granger, she’s a bright one, she’ll work out the message’. Now,” a clap echoed down the corridor, “as admiral as it is that you getting here I’m afraid I can’t let Draco go just yet. Back up the stairs with you now.”

 

Footsteps reverberated around the domed corridor as the owner of the voice walked towards them. The five teens tensed, preparing to fight despite their lack of wands. This was proven completely pointless as when the figure finally emerged from the deep shadows they all dropped their metaphorical – and in Harry and Ron’s cases literal – jaws.

 

“Don’t make me tell you twice,” Pluto stated with a cheery smile, wand held loosely at his side, “Hop to it. And no funny business.”

*******

 

Pluto led the group into the lounge signalling for them to sit on the threadbare armchairs centred around the burnt-out hearth. The uncovered floorboards were a dull pale wood, though more scuffed and chipped than throughout the rest of the house. Thick dark curtains blocked out most of the light from the room, the small chinks that managed to break illuminating the dust flecks floating in the air. Small gas lamps held at the pip cast long shadows across the room leaving the edges coated in darkness. As they carefully perched on the edge of their seats Pluto flung himself down causing a giant dust cloud to erupt from the cushions.

 

“Now that we’re sitting comfortably how about I tell you a story while we wait for my new, let’s call them my business acquaintances, gather our,” he scanned their faces to check he had their full attention, “Once upon a time there was this man and woman who were really in love – like the kind of love you get in fairy tales, you know? They got married and had two sons and they did everything they could to protect, care for and look after, ‘cause that’s what parents do. Eventually the oldest son turned eleven and he was old enough to go to Hogwarts. Now this made the parents worried – this was the first time he would be away from home and just the year before they had heard about trolls attacking the pupils, a giant Cerberus kept in the school with all these children and eleven year olds being attacked by the teachers, ending up in the hospital wing for a week in a coma, and all the adults, brilliant witches and wizards the lot of them, survivors of the last War, that had been entrusted with protecting all these children did nothing while lives were endangered,” Pluto explained to them in his story-teller voice, “But you know what rumours are like; there’ll be exaggerations. It was probably more like one pupil fell off their broom in flying practice and hit their head. So they sent their son away to this school, so he can learn new magic and make new friends. But then that year something starts attacking the children again. Parents are terrified, they’re pulling their kids out the school – there are rumours it’s going to be shut. And again the so-called heroes, the ones responsible for their kids for nine months of the year are doing nothing _again_. They talk to some of their friends – everybody’s scared for their families, for the children’s well being, because obviously these teachers don’t have their best interests at heart.

 

“Now some of theses people were from very influential families; they start to pressure the Board of Governors to make changes, but Dumbledore just keeps running around, playing god with their children’s lives - now he’s hired a Werewolf to teach for Merlin’s sake. Now don’t get them wrong, bar those three nights a month their just regular folk, but those three nights, they’re the clincher. One tiny slip and one of their kids could be attacked – bitten or even killed. Now they know he’s gone to far, so they start to pressure the Ministry, talks are had and the Headmaster agrees to instate an Auror as the Defence professor. But then he goes and allows the Tri-Wizard Tournament back as well. It got banned for a reason – people _died_. But it’ll be safe they say, there’s an age line; you must be seventeen. Yep, barely of age, not even graduated school yet; that’s the perfect age to allow children to risk their lives. And then a fourteen year old gets in. Now they’re furious. They talk to other people and there are people starting an army – to change how not just their school, but the Wizarding government is run. They’ll have a say in their families education, there’ll be no more corrupt officials, people will actually care about the people they’re making decisions for. It’s brilliant. They talk, think it out – is a war really the way they want to go? And then they hear about the Tournament – how a boy has died and Dumbledore has completely lost it, trying to blame long-dead wizards on his death.

 

“That decides them; these friends of their’s, they’ll join them. For months they fight, especially when they hear this ‘government selected official’ is refusing to teach their kids – because the younger son has just started school. They know there’s a war and their family need to protect themselves. But then it gets to the end of the year and they’re told the need to meet in the ministry because it’s time to make themselves known, to hit them where it hurts. They and their friends go to the ministry and find they’ve made a terrible mistake; they’ve been fighting for the Death Eaters. And the Dark Lord really is back.

 

“They want to turn away, to leave and never come back, but they know who they are – where they work, live, what shops they use and where their kids go to skill. There’s no way they can hide, and they’ll come after their families. The whole point of this was to _protect_ their families. So they carry on, get the brand, fight for the Death Eaters. For the tiny hope that maybe they’ll survive, and even if they don’t maybe their kids will, which would make everything worth it.

 

“The eldest son is in fifth year when it happens, his little brother in second, and everyone’s home for the Christmas holidays. They’re all sat around the table in the dining room for dinner – I don’t know if you’ve seen it yet, the room next door? Anyway the lights start to flicker, the air crackles and then someone’s broken down the wards. They take their kids and run, taking them to the safe room. Halfway there the front door is broken down and the fabled Order of the bloody Phoenix is in their home, shooting spells left right and centre. They tell the kids to run – they know where the safe room is.

 

“There almost there, and he’s been dragging his little brother because he’s been fighting tooth and nail to get back and help their parent’s. And then there’s this scream, like the sound someone would make if their nails were pulled out and their skin peeled off and acid was poured onto them while they’re still alive. And then the boys don’t know what to do because they are so close to escaping but that’s their mother that’s screaming like that and there’s only one spell in all of existence that can hurt someone that much. The boy doesn’t know what to do but his brother does and he escapes his grip to help their mum, and he’s always been the faster one; all thin with sinewy muscles and he’s one of the fastest things you ever did see, and his brother tries to stop him, he really does, but he can’t keep up and when he reaches the hallway there are flashes of light and yells and people everywhere and Phea is in there somewhere and he’s only twelve and he can’t fight them, there’s no way he can, but I have to help because I don’ even know if mum and dad are still alive and he might be the only family I’ve got and he’s my kid brother; it’s my job to look after him, it always has been, but he’s not anywhere, and then mum screams again and this time I hear him crying too and he’s trying to drag mum out the way but he’s tiny, he can’t move her half an inch and then there’s this curse that comes out of nowhere and it hits and then he’s, he’s just gone. Sure his body’s still there but that’s not my kid brother any more, it’s just an empty shell and his eyes are all glassy and mum’s screaming again, but this time it’s not from a spell and dad’s trying to fight off three at once and he’s cornered and he hears mum crying and looks to her and then he’s gone to, all collapsed on the ground. I try to pull mum away because we can still escape, but she won’t leave Phea and then she’s hit in the back and she’s gone too and then I run. I don’t know if they saw me or if they just didn’t care, but I ran and ran and I got to the safe room. I stayed in there for a week in case anyone came back – not from the Order or any of our friends. When I go back there’s nothing there; no crumbled plaster, no destroyed paintings, no bodies and definitely no proof that my entire family was murdered.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Lowe family was mentioned in a book that Umbridge owned (got it from the hp wiki) and ‘Insidiis revelatum’ means ‘Plots revealed’ (that one was all Google Translate).
> 
> I’ve cross-posted all my stuff from FF.net - if you want to read exactly the same stories of their site I’m Chance13 there as well ☺
> 
> Thank you to all the nice people there that gave me 12 Kudos’ and 2 reviews within a day of posting that gave me the motivation to finish this chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully that hasn't sucked too much. I know it's slow but I had to get all the basics down, you know where, when, who and everyone's situations. In case your wondering Harry isn't living at Grimauld Place, he's at the Burrow, because I think after everything they've been through he'd rather be with family. Also wanted to say the dictionary on my laptop is really funny; wanted to change Weasley to Weasel and apparate to appear, and it already knew Gryffindor but not Slytherin.


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